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Developing Comprehensive Bereavement Program in the Nursing Home

Nursing homes provide important palliative care as well as hospice to the elderly individuals in the society. Essentially they comprise places where the elderly members of the society spend their very last years of their lives. The care provided in these places is geared towards enabling this segment of the population to live a quality life for a longer period of time. At the time when they face their death, the relatives experience intense pain as well as emotional suffering due to their loss.

Besides experiencing psychological stress, the relatives also experience fear because of the inherent uncertainty that surrounds death. It is at this point that bereavement programs play an important role in helping the relatives to cope with their loss. These usually constitute important and professional guidance of the bereaved individuals as well as families. It is against this background that this paper provides an in depth analysis of the need and importance of bereavement programs in nursing homes. In detail, it justifies the need for developing comprehensive bereavement programs as well as their benefits to the affected individuals or families.

The Need for Developing Comprehensive Bereavement Program in the Nursing Home

As aforementioned, bereavement programs are vitally important in enabling the bereaved to undergo the transition and cope with the changes accordingly. In the nursing home environment, they offer useful insights and information that is used by the affected families to make necessary funeral arrangements and leave the hospital residents. According to Wilkins (2006) nursing home provide important and critical care to the terminally ill elderly patients while they await their deaths. Although it is widely agreed and understood that the respective elderly individual eventually die, very minimal measures have been undertaken by the relevant authorities to provide them with bereavement programs and quality hospice care.

Seemingly, the respective institutions have been transformed in to death sites over time. To address this problem and dignify the life of the elderly individuals, it is important for nursing homes to ensure that they have the relative services. This would go a long way in enabling the elderly to experience minimal pain and die a peaceful death. Most importantly, these would also reduce the pain that families and other individuals experience as a result of the loss of the elderly individual. From a psychological point of view, reduction of pain enhances the coping capacity of the bereaved and hastens the healing process.

Statistical evidence indicates that since 1986, the probability of the nursing homes being transformed in death sites has been increasing dramatically. In particular, there has been an 18.5% increase in the probability since then (Casarett & Henry, 2010). Currently, elderly individuals suffering form terminal diseases are more likely o die in the nursing homes than it was before. The factual statistics ascertain that nursing homes have already been identified as places where death occurs. For this reason, necessary interventions measures should be undertaken to ensure that people who die or are affected by deaths in different ways are not significantly affected by the obvious deaths.

Usually, the patients in the nursing home tend to have a very limited social network. To a great extent, this weakens them and increases their vulnerability to death. In this regard, it is worth acknowledging that social networks play an imperative role in enhancing the resilience of the elderly individuals as well as their families. Nursing home environments expose both the patients and their families to limited social networks. The families and friends are confined to this limiting environment because of the need to care for their loved ones. For this reason, the affected individuals need to be provided with quality and optimal bereavement programs that they require the most. These should pay a closer attention to them and act as a substitute of their social networks. This is imperative in providing them with social support as well as acceptance that they require at the time of the loss.

The current trends underscore distinct disparities between elderly individuals who receive bereavement services in different locations. Seemingly, the individuals who have access to these services in the nursing homes are less than those in nursing hospitals, in homes or in different other private settings. In this respect, Zerzan (2010) cites that while only 13% of individuals in nursing homes have access to quality bereavement programs, a significant 90% of their counterparts in other contexts enjoy these services. This implies that these critical services are not provided in a proportional manner. Since the individuals in the nursing homes lack important social networks and they are elderly, they need the services more than those in other settings that can provide the needed social network. Providing bereavement programs in nursing homes would be instrumental in enhancing justice in this regard.

The massive transformations that the national health policy has undergone require the nursing homes to have comprehensive bereavement programs. Previously bereavement programs were an aspect of the healthcare that was openly opposed by the health policy. Today, this aspect is acknowledged by not only important health policies but by also the government and other regulatory bodies. Increasingly, the government is appreciating the recognition that bereavement programs enhance the stability of the country. Since the environment is supportive, it is important for the relevant authorities to seize this opportunity to formulate, implement and enforce the programs accordingly.

Previously, the health policies opposed the implementation and enforcement of these programs on the premise that medical personnel had failed to come up with viable, sustainable and reliable ways of saving lives. Currently, these are supported because the policy as well as general public recognizes that old age is in most instances compounded by wide ranging terminal diseases. Since they ultimately lead to death, it is argued that they would rather be left untreated. This helps in lessening the pain that is related to relative medical procedures as well as enables the system to save significant financial resources that can otherwise be employed for enhancing the quality of life of other segments of the society (Kemper & Murtaugh, 2007).

It is also important to implement the bereavement programs in order to appreciate the value of life during old age. Research ascertains that unlike in the past, the life spans of populations have increased significantly. This is attributable to active engagement in physical fitness activities, better eating habits, and reduced emotional problems and so forth. To a great extent, the terminal diseases that the elderly suffer from during their final years occur naturally due to old age. Seemingly, this is also on of the major causes of death during old age. Providing this faction of the population with important bereavement services would enhance their quality of life in different ways. Most importantly, this would aid in addressing the causes of death during old age. Undoubtedly, this would be an important health achievement by the relevant authorities.

Benefits of Comprehensive Bereavement Program in the Nursing Home

At this point, it can not be disputed that bereavement programs in the nursing home are urgently required. To begin with, the decision to establish one in the nursing home institution has intrinsic goodness. In other words, it is moral and good in itself. In addition, it ensures that individuals that require the respective services have access to them accordingly. Indeed, the importance of the bereavement programs can not be underestimated. As aforementioned, they enable the bereaved to face the challenge strongly and cope with the problems accordingly. The families and close friends ho have access to these services tend to cope well with the loss and function optimally even after the loss. For a nation that requires economic and social stability to maintain its superior social and economic status, this is of paramount importance.

The death of elderly individual in the nursing homes has adverse impacts on the family and friends. This is usually due to the fact that the elderly individuals have great influence on the lives of people who are closer to them. From a psychological standpoint, the elderly individuals greatly influence other people because of the longer and deeper attachment that they have with the respective individuals. As a result, the death of the elderly is in most cases difficult to accept. Bereavement programs in the nursing homes would thus be instrumental in reconciling the gaps between grief for the dead and peaceful acceptance (McCorkle, 2008).

Because of the tight bond that exists between the dead and the bereaved, it I widely agreed that the bereavement process in this regard is usually complicated and compounded by various factors. The counselors that implement the bereavement program are usually equipped with specialized skills that they employ in making the transition process more peaceful. They take the affected individuals through the entire process of denial, anger, depression, bargaining and seeking for hope in life. In essence, this process effectively takes the bereaved from the anger stage that in most cases affects the quality of lives.

At this stage, it can not be disputed that bereavement counselor offer viable services to both the affected families and individuals. The counselor also acts as a communication agent between the family and the nursing home. Usually, the death of the terminally ill has far reaching implications to the affected individual and in most instances, it culminates in communication breakdown. The counselor in this regard provides a vital communication link that is useful for keeping conflicts at bay. Ultimately, both the nursing home and bereavement family are able to cope with the loss accordingly without complicating it further by emotional distress.

Usually, deaths that occur in the nursing home leave behind huge medical bills. Coupled with the fact that the family would be experiencing intense pain, this is likely to culminate in a state of confusion and denial. Failure to offset the bills in a timely manner can lead to legal procedures that usually make the healing process slower and more painful. In this regard, the counselor plays an important role of enabling the family to devise a viable plan of addressing their responsibilities. He ensures that means of offsetting the expenses are planned well in advance as people continue with the process of grieving.

Also, bereavement programs provide a very safe environment for the family and friends of the deceased. As mentioned earlier, the emotional pain that the individuals experience because of the loss is intense. For this reason, they may in some instances swear, cry, scream or rant. These could be disturbing to other individuals and can in some instances make the bereaved to be judged wrongly. The bereavement programs in nursing homes provide the right environment to express these painful emotions without being judged wrongly. The feelings are validated and affected individuals are taught how to deal with inherent issues accordingly (Wilkins, 2006).

Also, bereavement programs in the nursing homes are vital because they offer important educational programs. These usually address the diseases that the deceased was suffering from. This goes a long way in informing the family and friends about viable ways to control the disease or deal with its symptoms in a timely manner. Basically, it can not be disputed that learning enhances the process of healing. From a psychological point of view, it changes attitudes and fosters understanding and acceptance.

In sum, death is a phase of life and a condition that can be very difficult to accept by all individuals. As it has come out from the study, death should not necessarily destabilize the emotional status of the bereaved. Instead, it should be a time to celebrate a transition in life especially if the deceased was suffering from a terminal disease. In essence, it relieves the love one from pain and suffering. Bereavement program are very important because they enable the individuals to deal with the loss accordingly. It is vitally important for such programs to be established in all nursing homes.

References

Casarett, D & Henry, M. (2010). Does hospice have a role in nursing home care at the end of life? American Geriatrics Society Journal. 51.12: 1593-1598.

Kemper, P & Murtaugh, C. (2007). Lifetime use of nursing home care. New England Medicine Journal. 341.6: 512-517.

McCorkle, M. (2008). The effects of home nursing care for patients during terminal illness on the bereaved psychological distress. Nursing Research Journal. 50.2: 3-11.

Wilkins, W. (2006). Education about death, dying and bereavement in nursing homes. Nursing Journal. 21.6: 68-82

Zerzan, J. (2010). Access to palliative care and hospice in nursing homes. American Medical Association Journal. 301.3: 2567-2578.