Something to Think About

 90% of end of life care is education. People don’t die like they do in the movies, yet movies are our current role models. This leads to unrealistic expectations...

When the terminal illness, the disease progression, has been a pain filled experience and all comfort management options have been unsuccessful, then sleep is our friend...

Not everyone who is dying has pain. Disease causes pain. If pain is not present, a narcotic is not appropriate (except a tiny bit can ease labored breathing is present...

Taking care of someone at the end of life is different from taking care of someone who is going to get better—-but most people don’t know that either. Unless we...

Our base nature comes out when we are in pain, other worldly, and on high doses of all kinds of medications.  We are unconsciously expressing the terrible situation we were...

Fear, lack of knowledge, lack of being able to really hear and understand the knowledge being given, lack of trust, living in a country where opioids (identified under the word...

End of Life Expert Barbara Karnes, RN explains the similarities in the "labor" to enter this world and the "labor" to leave it. Read on...

Sudden death by accident, suicide and certainly by violence intensifies those normal grief responses. Everything we feel with normal grief is as if we are being held under a magnifying...

Our job as an end of life specialist is to address the elephant in the room, to be direct and honest in the gentlest way possible. We are not doing...

There are many of the same circumstances with today’s coronavirus as we faced with  HIV/AIDS in the early years— lack of medical knowledge, lack of guidance, and fear. I think...

Isolation from others is teaching me this about my self ——- I do a lot for others, for their thoughts of me, why else do I wear makeup? Get dressed?...

In todays culture with the opioid crisis rampant, fear of narcotic use is everywhere. That fear hinders our ability to provide appropriate comfort management and is leading to misconceptions about...

You have to walk the walk before you can talk the talk. Learn from your patient/family interactions. At the same time read everything you can get your hands on...

Often dying looks painful to the people watching. Dying is a struggle to get out of the body. There are sounds that ordinarily would indicate discomfort but, when a person...

Dying is not painful. Disease causes pain. If pain has not been an issue during the disease process then just because a person is actively dying does not mean they...

We can be as much at a loss when our pet is dying as we are when a person is dying but there doesn’t seem to be the support and...

The use of Morphine is one of the most misunderstood practices I encounter with families and end of life issues. Our society is so drug conscious we tend to equate...

Many families fear that dying is painful and that narcotics are always needed. In my experience, dying itself does not cause pain—disease does. When we understand the difference between pain,...