Fundamentals of Nursing Q 9
Nurses and other healthcare providers often have difficulty helping a terminally ill patient through the necessary stages leading to acceptance of death. Which of the following strategies is most helpful to the nurse in achieving this goal?
A. Taking psychology courses related to gerontology.
B. Reading books and other literature on the subject of thanatology.
C. Reflecting on the significance of death.
D. Reviewing varying cultural beliefs and practices related to death.
Correct Answer: C. Reflecting on the significance of death
According to thanatologists, reflecting on the significance of death helps to reduce the fear of death and enables the health care provider to better understand the terminally ill patient’s feelings. It also helps to overcome the belief that medical and nursing measures have failed, when a patient cannot be cured. Thanatology is the science and study of death and dying from multiple perspectives—medical, physical, psychological, spiritual, ethical, and more.
Option A: Professionals in a wide range of disciplines use thanatology to inform their work, from doctors and coroners to hospice workers and grief counselors. There also are thanatology specialists who focus on a specific aspect of the dying process or work directly with people facing their own death or that of loved ones.
Option B: A wide variety of professionals incorporate thanatology into their work. How they do so depends on what they need to know about the dying process. For example, a medical examiner, coroner, doctor, nurse, or other medical practitioners might study thanatology to better understand the physical process of death—what happens to the body during death as well as immediately after.
Option D: Thanatology also examines attitudes toward death, the meaning and behaviors of bereavement and grief, and the moral and ethical questions of euthanasia, organ transplants, and life support.