Introduction
Providing psychological support to an incurable patient and his relatives is a difficult test for the medical staff who accompanies the patient at all stages of dying. Therefore, professional burnout syndrome is widespread among medical workers in this category. Although I rarely face death, given the specialty of a dialysis nurse, I will have to face it more than once in my future career, as the death rate of such patients is high.
Death in the Nurse’s Experience
Nurses have great difficulty communicating with the dying, a circumstance that increases the feeling of isolation and loneliness in the dying person. This results from modern society’s psychological and cultural characteristics, for which death remains taboo (Kelly et al., 2021, p. 97). The inability of many medical professionals to support a conversation in which this topic is present, in one way or another, affects the ambiguity of their thoughts on this issue.
The most challenging death for a nurse is the first since it is difficult to realize that they indirectly bear the blame for this. But over time, dealing with death in subsequent times, it becomes easier for a person to endure it (McHugh et al., 2021, p. 1911). Death always evokes difficult-to-describe emotions, especially when it is the death of a stranger, not a relative. In addition, it can be precisely stated that being next to a dying person changes the worldview, especially if the person has not encountered such a thing before (Melnyk et al., 2020, p. 930). Learning about the death of a person does not bring so many emotions, even if it is a relative, in contrast to the immediate presence during this.
Conclusion
Summing up, one can say that death occupies an integral role in the work of a health worker. In addition, it has a combined effect on their mental and psychic state. As unfortunate as it may be, people who save lives will inevitably have to face failures that lead to death. Therefore, work in the field of healthcare can be considered truly one of the most difficult on earth.
References
Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2021). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing Outlook, 69(1), 96–102. Web.
McHugh, M. D., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Windsor, C., Douglas, C., & Yates, P. (2021). Effects of nurse-to-patient ratio legislation on nurse staffing and patient mortality, readmissions, and length of stay: A prospective study in a panel of hospitals. The Lancet, 397(10288), 1905–1913. Web.
Melnyk, B. M., Kelly, S. A., Stephens, J., Dhakal, K., McGovern, C., Tucker, S., Hoying, J., McRae, K., Ault, S., Spurlock, E., & Bird, S. B. (2020). Interventions to improve mental health, well-being, physical health, and lifestyle behaviors in physicians and nurses: A systematic review. American Journal of Health Promotion, 34(8), 929–941. Web.