Ways to Cope When Patients Pass Away

Working in a hospital or other healthcare workplaces means that you will potentially be tending to patients who are sick or dying. Tending to the same patients often can create bonds between the two of you that become quite special. Some patients can become like family to you after some time, which can make dealing with their death difficult for you.

The inevitability of death can be hard to come to terms with. The reaction you have to the first death you deal with will influence how you react in the future. It is hard not to feel like you did in your first experience, but it is important to stay strong.

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It is Your Job

Losing people is unfortunate; however, it is part of the job. If you feel grief, it means you are doing your job right. However, it is still not ideal to let the feeling of sadness consume you. You have to remember that this is your job and not your life. Empathy is a powerful tool to have as a nurse, but it can also cause things to be more painful. Do not let your patient's death become too personal.

It is OK to Feel

Rationalizing away your sadness is not healthy. Let yourself feel your sadness and confusion. Anger and disappointment are good to feel as well. Whatever your feelings may be, you have to remain professional. You also have to be able to care for other patients, if the death occurs during your shift. Embrace your feelings, but make sure to do it in a healthy way.

Do not let your feelings become debilitating. If you let your feelings become debilitating, it can affect your work and your personal life. It is OK to feel painful emotions, but let them wash over you and not drown you.

It is Good to Talk

Talking to someone about the death you experienced can always help. Death is something that is very common in the field of healthcare. You are surrounded by those who have experienced what you are experiencing; therefore, having someone else to tell your feelings to can help you take the load off of your shoulders that is weighing you down.

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It Happens

Going over every moment with a patient and trying to figure out what went wrong will not help you to cope with their death. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it, no matter how much you tell yourself that you could've done more.

You are Making a Difference

You are involved in an amazing industry. Every day you make a difference in someone's life. You can now care for your patient's family members and help them through the pain of the loss of their loved one.

What You Should Know

Coping with a patient's death can be difficult, but there are ways to do it. Talking to others and remembering that death is a fact of life can help to alleviate the grief you may be feeling. You are a part of the cycle of life and have to witness it firsthand every day.

Treating patients will always be an amazing experience, and you can make their family's loss a less painful one by talking it through. Take what you have learned and use it in the future. Dealing with your first death is hard as a nurse, but you are not alone. There are always ways to cope with death.

Related: International Nurses Association

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