Author Question: A nurse is assigned to care for a dying patient. To deal with this experience and future experiences ... (Read 33 times)

fahad · **on:** Jul 22, 2018

A nurse is assigned to care for a dying patient. To deal with this experience and future experiences with dying patients, the nurse should do which of the following?

a. Avoid going to funerals of former patients.
b. Develop a hard shell against emotional stress to avoid compassion fatigue.
c. Understand that people dying is part of the job to get used to.
d. Frequently evaluate his or her own emotional well-being.

Question 2

The patient is on a ventilator and has a heartbeat, but is brain dead. What should the nurse do?

a. Provide a private area to discuss organ donation.
b. Explain that as long as the heart is beating, the patient is alive.
c. Inform the family that the organs will be harvested when he is off the ventilator.
d. Stress the importance of leaving the patient on the ventilator to harvest the corneas.

johnharpe · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

D
Frequently evaluate your own emotional well-being. We all have feelings and memories about previous illnesses and death. Knowing more about your own grief and past experiences will help you care for others more insightfully. Being a professional caregiver involves knowing when to get away from a situation and how best to take care of one's self. Many nurses, especially those who routinely provide hospice care, attend a viewing at the mortuary or the funeral to show support for the family, honor the deceased's memory, and cope with their own grief. Develop your own support systems, take restful time away from your work, and find a person with whom you can safely share your feelings and concerns. Experiencing repeated deaths of patients can feel overwhelming at times. If you work in an area in which you experience multiple losses and fail to acknowledge your own feelings of loss, you may begin to feel overwhelmed by intense emotions (e.g., frustration, anger, guilt, sadness, or dissatisfaction with life) and become vulnerable to compassion fatigue.

Answer to Question 2

A
Provide a private area for the family to discuss organ donation if this is an option. Many people do not understand brain death. Family members often believe that the person is still alive because his or her heart is still beating. For their loved one to donate major organs (e.g., heart, lungs, liver), the body must be kept in good functional condition so the organs will not become damaged before donation. The patient remains on a ventilator until his or her organs are removed. Nonvital tissues such as corneas, skin, long bones, and middle ear bones can be removed at the time of death without maintaining vital functions.