Assisting the dying client

Procedure
1. Minimize the client’s discomfort as much as possible.
a. Provide warmth.
b. Provide assistance in moving, and position client frequently.
c. Provide assistance in bathing and personal hygiene.
d. Administer the appropriate medications before the pain becomes severe.

2. Recognize the symptoms of urgency or emergency conditions and seek immediate assistance.
3. Notify the charge nurse if there is an impending crisis and perform emergency actions until help arrives.
4. Encourage dying clients to do as much as they can for themselves so that they do not just give up-a state that only reinforces low self-esteem.
5. Provide emotional nursing care for the client.

a. Form a relationship with the dying client. Be willing to be involved, to care, and to be committed to caring for a dying client.

b. Allocate time to spend with the client so that no only physical care is administered.

c. Recognize the grief pattern and support the client as he or she moves through it.

d. Recognize that your physical presence is comforting by staying physically close to the client if he or she is frightened. Use touch if appropriate and nonverbal communication.

e. Respect the client’s need for privacy and with draw if the client has a need to be alone or to disengage from personal relationships.

f. Be tuned into client’s cues that he or she wants to talk and express feelings, cry, or even intellectually discuss the dying process.

g. Accept the client at the level on which he or she is functioning without making judgments.

6. Provide the level of care that encourages the client to retain confidence in the health care team.

7. Assist the client through the experience of dying in whatever way you are able to do so.

8. Support the family of the dying client.
a. Understand that the family may be going through anticipatory grief before the actual event of dying.
b. Understand that different family members react differently to the impending death and support the different reactions.
c. Be aware that demonstrating your concern and caring assists the family to cope with the grief process.

9. Be aware of your own personal orientation toward the dying process.
a. Explore your own feelings about death and dying with the understanding that until you have faced the subject of death you will be inadequate to support the client or the family as they experience the dying process.
b. Share your feelings about dying with the staff and others; actively work through them so that negativity does not get transferred to the client.