Death Anxiety In Nursing Essay

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In the field of nursing, nurses experience an overwhelming amount of emotions in any area that they may work. These emotions can include joy, happiness, fear, and even feelings associated with death. Nurses may face patient death in any department that they may work. It may occur suddenly or over an extended period. Nurses are taught the stages of death and the stages of grief. But nothing truly prepares them for dealing with the feelings that a patient death may bring. When nurses deal with death over and over in those careers, it can leave a bitter feeling in their hearts. This could ultimately lead to the need to find a new area to practice and/or even leaving the field of nursing. According to Nia, Lehto, Ebadi, & Peyrovi (2016), …show more content…

According to Nia et al. (2016), these studies “incorporated death, grief, and bereavement concepts” and that the “findings demonstrated that overall death anxiety was reduced”. According to Nyatanga (2016), “death anxiety is a phenomenon that we may experience while caring but it is not given enough coverage of what it is and how it affects people and those caring for dying patients in particular”. It is human nature to go about life without thinking about death and dying. However, when death is imminent, those thoughts are pushed forward as a potentially primary thought. When those thoughts are brought forth, anxious feelings about death are also brought forth. As nurses address the care required for the death process, conscientious thoughts are contemplated about one’s own life. As those thoughts are realized and perceived, death anxiety can occur. If death anxiety does not get addressed and a nurse must consistently deal with death, burnout could possibly occur. When burnout does occur, further stress and illness can and will transpire. Nyatanga (2016) states, “for those professionals who do not immediately take sick leave, it is possible that they may lack compassion (compassion fatigue) with negative impact on the dying experience of patients and those deemed important to them”. Caring for a patient during the dying process can be considered a wonderful feeling

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