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.