Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

About Dying And Death: Thanatology's Place In Medical Curriculum, Jill Dombroski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explored how healthcare providers engage in advance care planning and end-of-life care conversations. The research explored what shapes their understanding and the extent to which concepts from thanatology they intuitively bring in, explicitly bring in, and maybe fail to recognize. To achieve this, constructivist grounded theory (CGT) methodology guided the design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of the findings, which allowed for iteration across interviews and analysis with existing theories and data in the literature. The CGT design encouraged further engagement with the literature in an ongoing iterative fashion as well as with the analysis of the data. …

Pain In The Dying Patient, Shanna Selph

MSN Capstone Projects

This benchmark aims to educate nurses, doctors, and families on the importance of proper pain management in dying patients. The evidence in this benchmark will be appraised to improve practice, improve outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs (Melnyk, 2018). Feelings of being overwhelmed, fatigue, confusion, and guilt can occur in healthcare professionals without the proper knowledge of pain in the dying patient. Health professionals are responsible for ensuring proper care of patients is taken during the most difficult time of their lives to ensure they have the best quality of life through the end of their lives. The question to be …

Doing Death Better: Practical Ways For Healthcare Professionals To Care For The Dying Patient And Their Families, Andrea Wilson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare professionals care for patients with unique personal, cultural, religious, and medical needs, but these needs are not always met in a way that ensures the patient and their families are being treated as unique individuals. This paper first provides an overview of the physiological aspects of dying and how to educate patients and their families regarding expectations in end-of-life. The impacts of the death of a child and a parent were explored, and areas in need of more resources for these individuals were identified. The beliefs and practices of Hindu, Native American, and Islamic cultures were discussed, and lessons …

Ars Moriendi: An Overview Of Approaches To The Art Of Dying, Grief And Loss For Nurses Working In Mental Health, Meagan G.A. Dickerson, Darren Conlon, Toby Raeburn

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

This historical discussion paper is an overview for nurses working in mental health of medieval and Early Modern texts known as Ars Moriendi literature, which focuses on the art of dying, grief and loss. Primary and secondary historical documents are used to describe Ars Moriendi literature and how historical understandings of death and dying were shaped within a spiritual context. Ars Moriendi concepts are compared with modern Western secularised and medicalised notions to prompt reflection on historical versus modern approaches to dying, grief and loss.

Nur 4050 Family Centered End Of Life Care Across The Life Span Syllabus, Linda Bradley

Open Educational Resources

This course explores the nurses’ involvement in family centered end-of-life care. Principles of hospice and palliative care are used and discussed along with the myriad of needs facing individuals and their families at this time of life. The burden and distress of those facing life’s end and the ability of nurses to offer support for the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of clients and their families are presented.

The Value Of Family Support At The End Of Life, Hannah Butler

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is little research about the role of the family when a patient is dying. This paper examines the role of family support in end-of-life care. This paper consists of the findings from a service learning project with Circle of Life hospice. Patients with family support are more likely to have a DNR, chaplain visit, die at home, and other indicators of quality care. Patients with family support are more likely to receive higher quality care.

The Presence Of Spirituality And Its Effect On Attitudes Towards Death, Isabel F. Cortez

Honors College Theses

ABSTRACT

Rationale Implementing spirituality practices in healthcare is not heavily emphasized yet has the potential to increase positive patient outcomes.

Hypothesis If an individual identifies with having a strong sense of spirituality, then they will have decreased negative reactions towards dying.

Methods Data was collected via distribution and processing of surveys on the Statesboro campus of Georgia Southern University. The survey included a series of questions regarding general demographics, strength of spirituality, feelings associated with death, and coping ability. The information collected was processed through SPSS in order to evaluate correlations present.

Results It was found that individuals who indicated …

Physician Behaviors, Nursing, And Other Obstacles In End-Of-Life Care: Additional Critical Care Nurse Perceptions, Elizabeth Elouise Willmore

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Critical Care Nurses (CCNs) frequently provide end of life (EOL) care in intensive care units (ICUs). Barriers to EOL care in ICUs exist and have been previously published, but qualitative reports from CCNs themselves remain scarce. Qualitative data exploring barriers faced during ICU EOL care may increase awareness of obstacles and help remove them. Objective: Excluding family experiences, what are the major themes recounted by CCNs when asked to share common obstacles experienced in providing ICU EOL care? Methods: Members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses were randomly surveyed and responses to a single qualitative question were used. …

The Social Process Of Dying In The Hospital: A Grounded Theory Study, Alyson Prokop

Doctoral Dissertations

The majority of deaths in the United States occur in the hospital (Xu, Kochanek, Murphy, & Tejada-Vera, 2010). Because there is little understanding of the meaning behind this delicate social process for the patient, the purpose of this study was to develop a theory that describes the social processes one undergoes during the in-hospital end-of-life phase. Grounded theory methodology was chosen to understand this phenomenon and then explain it theoretically (Charmaz, 1990). The data used to develop the theoretical model was previously collected by StoryCorps and therefore components of secondary analysis were taken into consideration. Stories that are housed at …

Increasing Adult's Awareness Of The Importance Of End-Of-Life Care Discussions, Taylor Gardner

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For many American families, end-of-life care is often not discussed, until advanced illness or injury has fully disrupted everyday life. There are many benefits to discussing end-of-life care prior to any medical complications. Research has shown that individuals who plan their end-of-life processes with a hospice service provider and family members report a higher quality of death than individuals receiving common health care during their final six months of life. In order to make families and friends more comfortable with end-of-life discussions, I will conduct two one-hour educational sessions to students at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Development Of A Guideline For Hospice Staff, Patients, And Families On Appropriate Opioid Use, Trenika Alexander-Goreá

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an identified problem with patients receiving suboptimal pain management at a hospice agency in the northwestern United States. At this agency, undertreatment of pain is prevalent. Evidence indicates that this may be a result of a lack of guidelines, education, and knowledge of appropriate prescribing. Known barriers to the correct prescription and administration of potent opioids in the hospice setting include prevailing beliefs, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, all of which can impact care negatively. Contextually, hospice principles mandate patient comfort and caregiver involvement in continuous quality improvement, which includes adequate and informed pain management. Moreover, hospice metrics demand …

Quality Of Death People With Terminal Illnesses Are Turning To An Age-Old Method To End It All: Self-Starvation, Kazi E. Awal, Alyssa Pagano

Capstones

Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) is getting more attention in the medical community. Though physician assisted dying legislation passed in two more states in 2016--there are now 7 states where it is legal--the practice, where doctors prescribe a lethal dose of sedatives so that terminally ill patients can end their own lives, is inaccessible to many. But fasting to death is a way for patients suffering from terminal illnesses or other debilitating diseases to end their lives on their own terms that is legal everywhere. As extreme as it sounds, research shows the process can be made comfortable with …

The Lived Experience Of Fathers With Advanced Cancer, Maria Mowassee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Historically, fathers have been neglected as a research population in the nursing and oncology literature. This was in relation to their role being viewed as a disciplinarian and breadwinner instead of a nurturer. Fast-forward to modern day society, their role has evolved into a more involved parent that is necessary for their child’s development and well-being. The literature has also evolved and in recent years, this population has been gaining recognition and it is of great importance to understand their role, perception, and concerns as it pertains to being involved fathers. Therefore, when considering fathers with advanced cancer when death …

The Relationship Between Death Depression And Death Anxiety Among Cancer Patients In Saudi Arabia, Doaa A. Almostadi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main public health problems in the world. People diagnosed with cancer may become depressed and fearful of dying. This causes them to question treatments and sometimes avoid treatment altogether. Cancer may change the person's life and the lives of others around them. The current study focused on the psychosocial impact of impending death for cancer patients in Saudi Arabia. Currently, the relationship between the death anxiety and death depression in persons with cancer in Saudi Arabia is not yet clear. Added to that, little research has been conducted with Muslim cancer patients and their …

Bone Marrow Transplant Nurses' Attitudes About Caring For Patients Who Are Near The End Of Life: A Quality Improvement Project, Leslie Lauersdorf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In oncology setting, there is a range of emotions felt by patients and nurses alike such as helplessness, anger, sadness and anxiety; and this is especially the case as patients near the end of life. The literature shows there is an interest in nurses' attitudes toward caring for patients who are near the end of life. This project examines the overall attitude of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) nurses' attitudes toward caring for patients who are near the end of life using the Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) and a Demographic Data Sheet. This project investigated the …