Loss, Death, Grief Flashcards
Near death
- patients may be aware of this
- start seeing pulmonary changes
- decrease tone in muscles
- inability to swallow
Loss
A state of being without someone or something, to cease to have, deprivation
Actual loss
-person can no longer see, feel, touch, smell whatever that object is
Ex: death of a family member, loss of limb, loss of job
Perceived loss
- A type of loss that is more subjective
Ex: loss of confidence
Loss of possessions/objects
- may be due to theft, destruction, fire, natural disaster
Loss of known environment
May be due to confusion or illness
Loss of significant other
-death, divorce
Loss of aspect to self
May be due to an illness
Loss of life
Loss of someone or grieving your own loss
Dying
Coming to a close, destined to end, just before death
The experience of dying
- individual journey
- mind, body, spirit
- physical dimensions decline
- increased interest in spiritual and interpersonal dimensions
Nearing death awareness
- time of transition
- interaction with the dying person: be respectful, still talk to if comatose
- confusion/ vision: don’t correct the patient
- permission to “let go”
Signs of imminent death
- altered breathing patterns:Cheyenne strokes
- hypoxia
- altered elimination
- mean gal status changes
- increased sleeping
- restlessness
- circulatory changes
- food/fluid decrease
- in continence
Most common final 4 symptoms
- death rattle
- Cheyne-Stokes respirations
- pulslesness of radial artery
- extremity cyanosis
Death
Permanent cessation of all vital functions
Good death
Free from avoidable distress, and free from suffering, of family members
Bad death
Not having ones wishes honored in dying process, isolation, pain
Physical signs that death has occurred
- absence of vital signs
- unresponsiveness
- loss of skin turgor/color
- relaxation of sphincter muscles
Pronouncement of death
- in MI by MD or RN
Nursing care of the body
- send all personal items with the body
- can delegate postmortem care
Documentation
- Date, Time of death
- who pronounced
- name of health care provider
- who was notified
- were there any personal artifacts
- time that body was transferred and released and who came to pick them up and where did they go
Grief
The emotional response related to a perceived loss
Four tasks of grief
- Accept reality of loss
- experience the pain as grief
- adjustment to the world without the lost object
- withdraw emotional energy and invest in other relationships
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross stages of dying
Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance
Unresponsiveness
- start sleeping more
- become more unresponsive at times
