Reflecting on Health, Illness, Dying and Death in Nursing Practice

This nursing assignment presents a student's reflective account on their experiences and perceptions related to health, illness, dying, and death within the context of nursing practice. The reflection encompasses observations of patient suffering and mortality, personal emotional responses to these events, and an evolving understanding of health as a holistic balance of mind, body, and spirit. The student acknowledges the challenges of confronting illness and death, even with professional training, and emphasizes the importance of personal coping mechanisms such as counseling. The assignment concludes with a recognition of the enduring impact of these experiences on the student's perspective as a future nurse specialist.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
Nursing Assignment- Module #3
Name
Institution

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 2
Nursing Assignment- Module #3
Reporting
As a nurse student, I have often undergone through robust experience of observing
people’s sickness as well as deaths. Few years ago, I was offered a somewhat rare as well as
invaluable opportunity to gain a clear glimpse into a certain man’s final journey. I had known
this particular patient for a couple of years. Despite the fact the man remained in stasis, the man
eventually loses ground physically, and finally, he sadly died.
Responding
This experience got me to my nerves, and I could not stand it. Although I could not do
much to save the man, I had a perception that death indeed is so painful and apologetic to anyone
(Irish, Lundquist, & Nelsen, 2014). Ideally, death and dying are no doubt a paradoxical subject s
that virtually everyone has a different perspective that tends to affect and incite individuals
differently including healthcare professionals.
Relating
I do not remain unmoved by the thought of death or instead of dying. When this
possibility happens because of accidents or even death that involves a victim to undergo an
appropriate medication and finally disappearing, it often reverberates strong emotions for weeks.
At times I drive myself insane thinking that I could have done something to help a dead person
(Koblinsky, Campbell, & Harlow, 2018).
Reasoning
Personally, health has a broader meaning that ranges from a healthy balance of a personal
mind, body, and spirit that may result in an overall feeling of a rather well-being (Arena, 2014).
Additionally, I have always known health as being in constant pursuit of living a personal life to

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the fullest. While being healthy have a different perspective altogether, it is no doubt that it
entails a rather acceptance of satisfaction with an own present condition. Consequently, this may
mean a situation of self-assessment of emotional as well as social, physical, intellectual, and
spiritual well-being. Notably, this has been my overall understanding of what health or rather
wellness means to an individual’s life. In this light, the aspect of illness has always been a rather
sad thing to me, and although I have occasionally fallen sick, I instead prefer being in the line of
healthy living.
Reconstructing
Furthermore, I take a lot of caution when dealing with the path of maintaining a healthy
life. Notably, this is because when I fall sick, I have always gone through hell when I am sick.
Although I am trained to withstand the overall aspect of illness and death as a nurse specialist, I
have always found it difficult to go through these experiences. Just like any other person, I have
ever undergone through guidance and counseling whenever I come across the knowledge of a
person dying or a patient suffering a chronic illness during my line of experience as either a
nurse intern or rather a nurse student. In conclusion, I have often had a slightly negative
perspective towards death and illness even though I cannot avoid going through such experience
as either a patient or even a nurse specialist.

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 4
References
Arena, R. (2014). Lifestyle modification interventions and cardiovascular health: global
perspectives on worksite health and wellness and cardiac rehabilitation. Progress in
cardiovascular diseases, 56(5), 473-475.
Irish, D. P., Lundquist, K. F., & Nelsen, V. J. (2014). Ethnic variations in dying, death and grief:
Diversity in universality. Taylor & Francis.
Koblinsky, M. A., Campbell, O. M., & Harlow, S. D. (2018). Mother and more: a broader
perspective on women’s health. In The Health Of Women (pp. 33-62). Routledge.