Difficulty communicating the patient’s death to family members

Considering that informing family members of a patient’s death is an arduous task for health professionals, the objective of this research was to identify in the literature recommendations to reduce the distress caused by this situation. This is a qualitative study carried out by means of a literatu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ferreira, Juliano Cezar, Pereira, Ana Paula, Bonamigo, Elcio Luiz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:Brasil
Institución:Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM)
Repositorio:Revista Bioética (online)
Idioma:portugués
inglés
español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.emnuvens.com.br:article/2467
Acceso en línea:https://revistabioetica.cfm.org.br/revista_bioetica/article/view/2467
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Death. Attitude to death. Parental death. Hospital communication systems. Bioethical issues.
Muerte. Actitud frente a la muerte. Muerte parental. Sistemas de comunicación en hospital. Discusiones bioéticas.
Morte. Atitude frente à morte. Morte parental. Sistemas de comunicação no hospital. Temas bioéticos.
Descripción
Sumario:Considering that informing family members of a patient’s death is an arduous task for health professionals, the objective of this research was to identify in the literature recommendations to reduce the distress caused by this situation. This is a qualitative study carried out by means of a literature review on the Capes Portal database using the terms “death” and “communication.” The results, obtained from 18 selected articles, were divided into three categories: professional training, family preparation, and professional practice. Regarding professional training, it was indicated, above all, training by role playing preceded by theoretical foundations; for family members’ preparation, the recommendation was to engage indialogue while the patient is alive; in relation to professional practice, the advice given was information sharing between colleagues and adoption of measures for emotional control. It was found that simulated practices, information sharing between professionals, emotional control of professionals and dialogue with and between family members contribute to reducing the distress when communicating death.