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Abstract

Much has been written that highlights that fact that the profession of nursing is stressful and taxing both physically and emotionally on nurses. Most recently, the field of end of life (EOL) and palliative care has been acknowledged as a stressful occupation and that burnout, attrition, and a nurse�s personal involvement is unique to this particular field of health care (Huggard & Nichols 2001; Lobb et al, 2010; Rollings, 2008). Caring for the nursing staff working within the field of EOL and palliative care has not kept pace with the advances in self-care that is acknowledge for other health care professionals. According to Gerow et al, 2010, the impact of death on a family and its members has been well documented throughout the literature including the grief response and process, yet the grieving process and self-care of registered nurses during and following the death of a patient has not been researched extensively as a result. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate identify gaps that exist in EOL and palliative nursing for registered nurses in terms of self-care. Secondly, evidence will be presented in support of models that exist for registered nurses and policy makers to implement self-care within their organizations and into the EOL or palliative care setting. Implications of the lack of consideration of self-care in the profession will be discussed throughout the paper. Additionally, the concept of disenfranchised grief will be deliberated in terms of how this phenomenon has an additional negative affect and its consequences for health care professionals.

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