When healthcare professionals lose a patient there will be grief and all the complexities that grief entails: anger, sadness, guilt, overwhelm, even relief.
If these reactions are not expressed, shared, or released in some way they will eat away at your stomach, your self-esteem, your energy, your overall health, your sleep, your peace of mind…
Suffering multiple losses doesn’t mean another one has no impact. It does: it will.
What are you doing to mitigate the long term consequences on your health and well-being? Or that of your unit?
For the Unit – some thoughts, though you are probably doing many things already.
- 10 seconds of silence at the bedside. Someone needs to lead and count: “We will now hold 10 seconds of silence to honor the passing of … and give thanks for their life and for the care offered by their team.”
- Some visual with words of support and thanks to the staff. Have leadership sign?
- Create a quiet corner, even a standing corner, with an electric candle, essential oils and cotton balls to carry the scent away with them, affirmation cards and prayer cards to pick up. A CD player with meditation music. Staff can sit or stand and listen just for 3-5 minutes. (Prayer and affirmation cards will be posted here soon.)
For you, because you are probably not doing much for yourself. And if you currently work in healthcare and have lost a patient or a family member to Covid -19 then you have some degree of traumatic grief.
- Use the One-Mo resources on this site
- Check out some free grief resources below. Also check out GriefYoga.com with Paul Deniston and Grief.com with David Kessler. Both offer free resources and other options for support.
https://fromgrieftogrowth.mykajabi.com/Three-Reasons-Why-All-Grief-During-COVID19-is-Traumatic
Care for Healthcare Workers 