Healthcare providers have several patients dealing with loss, grief, and dying. People deal with the loss of loved ones differently, and it is the responsibility of health care providers like nurses to ensure the grief does not affect their health. People need to seek help when experiencing immense grief after experiencing a loss or after learning they have a fatal disease. Grief is often ignored and overlooked, and those who do not deal with their grief have unresolved grief, which may affect them emotionally and physically (Champ, 2021). Health care providers need to recognize signs of grief and help their patients learn to deal with loss.
A thirty-five-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because he showed signs of depression and immense pain. After a few tests and consultations with family members, it was revealed the man was suffering from grief. After only a year of marriage, he had lost his wife, and his response to the loss affected his health. The patient was not eating, did not sleep the required hours, and isolated himself from social activities. After the death of his wife, he stopped taking care of himself, which made his health deteriorate. All the tests performed on the patient revealed no other health complications, which meant that his pain and depression were derived from the loss he experienced.
Dealing with loss is something that should be personalized depending on the effect the loss has on the patient. According to MedicineNet (2007), the way a person grieves depends on their personality and the relationship the person had with the one they lost. The patient’s care in the health care facility was to help him regain his strength. He was dehydrated, and the health care providers ensured he was on an IV drip immediately after he arrived at the hospital. Since most of the issues affecting the patient resulted from his grief, he needed psychological treatment to help him know how to cope and move on from the loss he experienced. The other care the patient received was counselling services from the nurses, where he was helped to deal with the pain he felt after his loss. The textbook explains that grief can consume a person if they do not receive treatment. The Guardian asked readers to share their experiences of how grief almost consumed them after they lost loved ones. One reader claimed that she lay with her dead husband for nearly an hour and felt peace (Obordo & Readers, 2019). Many other people are consumed by grief, and the patient is just one among many who are wasted and consumed by their grief. Such people need care and attention to see the value of life and continue with their lives in the absence of their loved ones. Others engage in self-medication to avoid the pain caused by the loss and end up as drug addicts. The patient’s care helped him deal with his grief through healthy ways such as therapy and engaging in activities to keep him busy and prevent him from overthinking. The patient’s family members were included in his treatment intervention because they are the best people who will help him appreciate life and move on from the loss. Family members should offer support and constant care to the person suffering to help them heal faster. After a few days in the hospital, he went back home and started a new chapter of his life where he cherished the memories of his wife instead of letting the grief take over.
Nursing interventions are the methods and actions the nurses engage in to improve the health of their patients. In cases of grief patients, the nursing interventions necessary for the improvement of the patient’s heath include bedside care and assistance, postpartum assistance and feeding assistance. Bedside care helps the patient feel support and feel they are not alone. Grief patients should not be left alone for a long time because once they are alone, they begin experiencing many emotions that continue to deteriorate their health. Bedside care will help the patients avoid alone time, which will boost their attitude. Nurses should commit themselves to care for grief patients even after being discharged from the hospital. Postpartum care will help the patients recover faster, maintain and improve their health. The nurses will be available to help them in their recovery process. Nurses can continue with postpartum care through frequent phone calls or in-house visits until they are sure their patient is fully recovered. For patients who experience a challenge in feeding themselves, nurses should intervene and help them because food gives them the energy required to recover and become healthy. Other important routine nurse interventions necessary for grief patients include active listening. According to Greenwood (2022), listening to the patient and repeating back information makes them feel heard and boosts their emotional state. Grief patients need to be heard for them to heal because they have a lot of emotions inside them that they need to let out. Nursing interventions help patients to recover and improve their health much faster.
The assignment has taught me the extent to which grief, loss, and dying can affect people’s lives. I have learned that people consumed by grief need care and support to help them deal and cope with the loss they have experienced. I have learned that sometimes people do not know what to do with the pain caused by grief and their health becomes negatively affected. It is the responsibility of all health care providers to ensure all patients suffering from the grief caused by the death of a loved one are taken care of and shown the appropriate and healthy ways to deal with their grief. I have learned several treatments for grief patients that will help me in my practice as a health care professional in the future. Learning from real-life experiences allows people to know the real issues patients experience and how they are handled. In my career as a health care provider, I will strive to help patients suffering from grief because their problems are often overlooked.
References
Champ, L. (2021, June 1). Unresolved grief: 6 signs you haven’t grieved properly. Read Online. https://www.redonline.co.uk/health-self/self/a36590728/unresolved-grief/
MedicineNet. (2007, September 13). Loss, Grief and Bereavement Treatment, Phases and Mourning on MedicineNet.com. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=83860
Obordo, R., & Readers, G. (2019, November 25). ‘Grief is so overpowering – it consumes you’: readers on death and dying. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/01/grief-is-so-overpowering-it-consumes-you-readers-on-death-and-dying
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