Something to Think About

a blog on end of life

We love sharing helpful info on our blog.

About the BK Team
Would You Rather Die At Home Or In The Hospital?

Most people, if they had their choice, would want to be in their home with family and the dog or cat on the bed when they die. YET, most people...

Professional Boundaries With Our Vulnerable Patients

We enter peoples’ lives as professionals. We are knowledgeable, supportive, caring, and personable. However, we are not best friends, we are not even friends, really.

The Part of Grief You Don't Know ---Until You Do

Now I have to learn how to be a widow. How to create a new life, a new way of being. I am truly alone. 

Who Are You Remembering This Holiday Season?

Death has touched us all, some more recently than others.  Grief has no actual timeline, no end point where we are suddenly “fine”.  Each of us responds to our loss...

The Words We Use When It Comes to Death

Our job as end of life workers is to educate. We walk a thin line. Our words can be heard and misunderstood so easily. They can be interpreted differently than...

Continued Sporadic Breaths After Mom Was 'Gone'

The heart is still beating even when our less sophisticated machines don’t register them. The breathing will get slower and slower and the time between breaths will get longer and...

Putting  Our House  In Order

In the days to weeks before gradual death occurs a person realizes, at last, that they are dying. They may not share that realization with anyone, but they know. If...

Do You Know About The Gems of Dementia?

I know that dementia doesn’t play by the rules of approaching death. The guidelines relating to food, sleep and sociability don’t fit with dementia. I know that  I am seeing...

"Believers" and "Non-Believers" Facing End of Life?  Is There A Difference?

We human beings are complicated creatures. We approach death in the way we have approached living and according to our personality. Our belief systems are part of that living. Sometimes...

What Do You Do When Words Become Meaningless?

I think we healthcare workers rely on our words as our offering. Explanations, suggestions, instructions, even using words to offer condolences and trying to comfort. And yes, words are a...

Helping A Family Decide Whether to End Life Support

If you have a good, amicable relationship then get them together and say, with caring in your heart, "I am going to tell you some things I have learned about...

Medical Interventions on a  Body That Can’t Be Fixed

How tragic that none can come forward and say, "Your father is dying. Let's stop all these extras and keep him comfortable”. Family as well as many individual physicians do...

Entering Into "Precious Time"

In our medical society today, it seems to be very difficult for physicians to tell patients and/or families that death is approaching; That this special person will die, and probably...

Hospice Services Pulled for Dementia Patient

There is a huge void in our medical system that so many families living with dementia fall into. These families have a loved one too sick and require too much...

Reaching out to a  Non-Religious  Person At End of Life

"How do you reach out to a non-religious person who believes the end is the end?" You don't...

END OF LIFE CARE- Providing Education, Support and Guidance

Dying is not a medical event. Dying is a communal, social event. Nursing and physicians are part of care, but not the all encompassing focus. The main focus of end...

It's Here!  BY YOUR SIDE, A Guide For Caring For The Dying At Home

By Your Side offers guidance in the area of making choices: cure, life sustaining, comfort care, making advanced directives, and funeral planning. It details signs of approaching death (what to look...

Discussing End-of-Life Wishes

I often get the question, "How do I start an end of life discussion? How do I get my family to talk about what they want their dying to be...

NHPCO Hospice Innovator Barbara Karnes, RN explains the 3 Signs of Approaching Death from Disease or Old Age

 Know that all of these signs of approaching death, whether indicating months or weeks, are just guideposts. Some people will show all of them...

"Grieving For Someone Who Treated Me Badly"

Part of grieving is how you channel the feelings. Channel your anger, your disdain into how well you live your life now. Let your life experience be the learning tool...

When Is It Time To Say Goodbye? article by end of life expert, Barbara Karnes, RN

"When do we say our final goodbye to someone who is dying?" Barbara Karnes talks about how we say goodbye in stages. We say goodbye many, many times.  

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