Kubler-Ross' Phases of Grief

Emotional Loss

Emotional Loss

The hardest thing to deal with in the health care setting is emotional loss. I have patients at my job who are on dialysis, cancer patients, Alzheimer’s patients, and patients who die of old age. It’s incredibly difficult developing a personal relationship with my patients knowing that they are going to eventually die. 

Patients suffering with cancer and other major illnesses are the hardest to deal with. It’s very sad helping them cope with their emotions. They normally go through the five stages of grief acknowledged by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in 1961. click here http://www.businessballs.com/elisabeth_kubler_ross_five_stages_of_grief.htm 

 Here’s a chart I found with examples of responses that someone grieving might make.

The hardest two stages to deal with are anger and depression. Normally when my patients are angry they tend to become uncooperative and sometimes combative. Getting them to cooperate is the hardest task. They often turn down showers and other daily routines. It’s very hard to convince them to do necessary daily routines such as getting dressed or out of the bed for the day.

 Normally when my patients become depressed they refuse to eat and drink. Refusing to eat and drink typically makes them even sicker majority of the time because they aren’t having proper bowel movements. Watching their conditions progress is very hard to watch.

 When my patients are dealing with the five stages hospice is a huge help. Hospice makes it a lot easier for my patients to deal with their emotions and they also help counsel the family and their emotions as well. When hospice comes they normally help with the car of the patient as well with things such as getting the patient bathed and dressed. This is a lot of help because it’s very hard to deal with the emotions coming from the patients by yourself. It takes a special person to work for hospice. Being able to deal with the loss of someone you have gotten close to is an unbearable pain.

FAMILY INTERACTIONS

Family Interactions

Family plays a big support role to residents in the nursing home. Visitors affect the attitudes and behaviors of the residents. Those who have visitors are normally a lot easier to deal with and seem a lot happier. Sometimes visitors like to help with small things such as feeding the patients. 

These small tasks are very big in busy nursing homes. I've seen patients' faces light up when their families come. I have one patient who really misses her family. She talks to me about her family and going home all the time. When her daughter comes she can't stop smiling. One day she even began to sing.  

Those who don't have family or visitors to come see them are often very negative and hard to deal with. They are normally angry because sometimes their families don't tell them where they are going and drop them   off at the nursing home without telling them. 

Most of my patients who don't have visitors are very combative. They often use profanity, fight and are very uncooperative. I had a patient who threw her eating tray for no reason at another CNA who was trying to help her eat. I've been hit, scratched, insulted, cursed out, and almost spit on by cranky patients. 

Patients who act out in this manner hurt a lot of CNAs emotionally. I've seen many CNAs cry because they feel like they do all they can to help patients who don't respect them. I don't take them acting out personal. Even when my patients call me bad names I try to smile and stay positive with them. The more positivity I  show towards my patient, the easier it will be to calm them down.

I know a lot of my patients don't have visitors so sometimes on my days off I like to go to the nursing home and talk to my patients for a little. I like to carry on short conversations because I know it makes them happy. I also like to go and design their nails because I know many of they residents haven't had manicures in years. 

I enjoy volunteering extra time in the nursing home because I love to see the smiles on my resident's faces. Sometimes small things to us are big to others. There should be more people to volunteer their time in the nursing home. I remember when I was younger I used to tap dance and we would go in a group and perform for the nursing home. The smiles on the resident's faces were priceless. 

http://animoto.com/play/A7zNkn8aMnsFRuVzRpjFVQ

http://youtu.be/gWuFlufYa2A

emotional interactions

As a CNA for a couple of months I've came across many amazing people. Working in the healthcare field is a humongous responsibility. You are responsible for the health of your patients. You also have an emotional responsibility with your patients. The attitude that nurses and CNAs have towards their patients is important and reflects towards their patients can help them recover faster. click here Negative attitudes towards the patients can harm the patient. The negativity could cause stress towards the patients and cause the patient to recover slower than normal. There are patients who refuse to eat, drink, and take medication. CNAs or nurses with positive attitudes should be able to persuade their patients to do those things. 

Developing relationships with patients is very common in the healthcare field. Working in the nursing home is the most common place to develop an emotional attachment with your patient. Often times patients are lonely from sitting in their small rooms all day; some even begin to miss their families. Many residents tend to carry on conversations with their nurse or CNA about their families or old stories. 

Listening to the stories they share draws you closer to the patients. As a younger CNA many patients look at me and think of their grandchildren. Some patients even call me their grandchild. In a setting such as a nursing home I play a role as a family member because sometimes I'm all that some patients have. Some patients don't have grandchildren or other family members to come out and visit them so it makes me feel good that I can do something small like saying, "Hey, Grandma", or carry on a five to ten minute conversation to give them comfort and feel at home.