Date of Award
2023
Document Type
Thesis
Mentor
Erin Montgomery
Abstract
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 from these cultures that healthcare professionals can apply to patients cross-culturally were stated. This paper then examines different aspects of post-mortem considerations such as family member perceptions and presence during resuscitative measures, as well as the role of nurses during end-of-life care, and the effects this can have on the profession. The results of multiple studies were discussed throughout the paper, including the implications of these results and ways to improve the experience of death and dying for both the patient and their loved ones.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Citation Information
Wilson, Andrea, "Doing Death Better: Practical Ways for Healthcare Professionals to Care for the Dying Patient and Their Families" (2023). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 53.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/undergrad-honors/53