Death and Dying and Postmortem Care: Essential Addition to Senior Skills Day

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1-2020

Abstract

Death is a significant life event and one that occurs every day in hospitals across the nation, where most new graduate nurses obtain their first job. Often, students graduate and have never cared for a dying patient or performed postmortem care. Curricula often include a skills day as an essential part of the baccalaureate education in order to provide reinforcement and the opportunity for senior nursing students to practice skills prior to transitioning to that of a graduate nurse. Postmortem care is typically not one of the skills included to assess competency, nor is it one students are clamoring to perform. An encounter with death has been reported to be one of the most stressful experiences reported by nursing students during their clinical training (Edo-Gual, Tomás-Sábado, Bardallo-Porras, & Monforte-Royo, 2014). There can also be a sense of curiosity, apprehension, and even fear. For this reason, a station was added to senior skills day that addressed the topic of death and dying, as well as postmortem care review.

Comments

Syllabus Selections: Innovative Learning Activities.

DOI

10.3928/01484834-20191223-17

PMID

31945182

Publication

Journal of Nursing Education

Volume

59

Issue

1

Publisher

Slack

Pages

60-60

Link to Full Text


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