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Helping Nursing Assistants with Dying and Death

The purpose of a nursing assistant is to provide the best possible care to the patients. He needs to work very hard in order to provide even the most basic services to the patients. Nursing assistants don’t only need to perform their own duties, they are supposed to assist the nurses with any kind of emergency and therefore their job often requires multitasking skills. Ultimately, they are meant to help others and make them feel better. For new professionals in the field of nursing assistant, it is almost always really difficult to handle the situations involving death.

Dealing with death of patients is a common issue for medical professionals and it is even more commonly encountered by those handling care of elderly or critical cases. These issues should be kept in mind before joining such facilities as a nursing assistant. Different people have different views about the death; nursing assistants should avoid taking these situations emotionally as they need to face them frequently in this profession. But nursing assistants should react according to the needs of the family members. For example, if they are religious and praying they need to react accordingly. It is always good to respect the patient’s wishes or those of his family during such situations.

Some nursing assistants get upset with the situations involving death because they feel that it is not something that they joined this profession for. But, if they enjoy helping people, they can a tremendous support for the patients and their families in those critical moments. They have to apply all their efforts to make the patient comfortable. In final hours, the patient’s mouth tends to become very dry and in this situation one needs to give them sips of water or ice chips. They have to apply Vaseline if the patient’s lips start cracking.

A nursing assistant needs to have details about a patient’s medical history and he needs to treat the patient accordingly. He has to constantly monitor the patient’s body temperature, blood pressure and try to make him comfortable by adjusting the beddings, air conditioning and heating as required. Nursing assistants must be observant of signs indicating approaching death such as slowing down of the blood circulation, changes in breathing and blurred vision. All these changes must be recorded in the patient’s chart. He has to inform the nurse if, in his opinion, the situation is getting worse.

When a patient is in the last stages of his life, a nursing assistant must be careful in providing them with the best of care to assure his comfort. The prescribed medications have to be administered sincerely. One can even play music if it makes the patient more comfortable. One can provide them with their favorite books or some passages from the bible. In the final moments, the nursing assistant may even hold their hand to comfort them. In effect, a nursing assistant must be dedicated to fulfill the last wishes of the patient as far as possible.

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