Dealing with death is unavoidable for many nurses. We see it often. It’s not something nursing school can teach you. And it’s surely not anything you can read out of a book. How you recover emotionally will set the pace of your career, especially if you work in acute care. But, how do you gather yourself after an “arrest” that rocked you to your core?
Here are some things I suggest:
- Recognize its importance
- Talk about it
- Allow them to die with dignity
- It’s an honor
- Treat every single death like it’s the first
- It’s absolutely OK to cry
- Take care of yourself
- Do something for someone else
- Find the balance
- Debrief
And the one thing that you should NEVER do…? Check out the video below for my answer:
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**IMPORTANT NOTICE** This was a recording from my Instagram account, so it’s not the highest quality (wonky formatting). Some of the video content and conversation is out of context, but I thought the information was valuable and wanted to share it here. I hope you don’t mind.
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Sean P Dent 