“We’ve done the best we can and we can’t fix you...”
Someone has to have the courage to say “We’ve done the best we can. We can’t fix you. Let us help you have some quality time”.
Someone has to have the courage to say “We’ve done the best we can. We can’t fix you. Let us help you have some quality time”.
Working with end of life in the medical field often leaves us feeling like outliers. The medical model is to fix people. Working with dying generally isn’t addressed in training. (It’s...
Why is the patient being discharged, you ask? Is it because the patient just didn’t decline as rapidly as expected? Yes, that can be the situation...
As caregivers, we want so much to do the “right thing” for our special person. We know death is coming but still try to do all we can to stop...
When we begin the gradual dying process our personality tends to intensify. If we are an angry person we will get angrier. If we have a gentle personality we will...
Anger in caregiving generally comes from a place of frustration, of fear, of sadness, of tiredness. All sorts of feelings with no outlet so they come bursting out.
Dying patterns are centered around food, sleep and socialization. Assess those three areas and you can track the dying process.
In the months and weeks before death, medical intervention and medical tools are an active part of care. Pain management, skin care, mouth care,and bowel and urine care are all...
All the work we do leads up to the moment of death. Our goal is to guide and support those present through the moment the last breath occurs.
It is our job, our responsibility as end of life workers to be honest with our patients. In a “don’t tell mom” situation I first assess where everyone is, who...
As end of life professionals we have to carefully walk a line. We are in the tenuous position of caring intimately for adult strangers who often do act as children. ...
In those last five months I tried for us to live in the present, to build good memories, to love, give and live in the moment...