Integrating Faith: Nursing Care in Death and Dying Process

This essay discusses the integration of personal faith and beliefs in nursing practice, specifically in the context of death and dying. It covers the role of a nurse in postmortem care, including confirming death, preparing the body, and supporting the family. The essay also explores how personal faith, particularly Catholicism, influences end-of-life care decisions and emphasizes the importance of considering the patient's cultural context. Furthermore, it addresses the professional and spiritual roles of a nurse in supporting a dying patient, such as providing information, managing pain, and facilitating religious practices. Finally, the essay reflects on the CA advanced directive and the emotional challenges of making end-of-life decisions.

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Faith integration on death and dying
Student’s name
Institutional

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Role of a nurse in postmortem care
One of the most important roles of a nurse is to confirm the death of the client. This is done by
checking identification bracelet, checking if the pupils are fixed, dilated and unreactive to light
and lastly document the findings. The second role is to ensure the room is closed, the deceased
patient should be in a supine position with all catheters and IV lines removed. The nurse should
ensure the arms and legs are straight and eyes closed. The body should be clean, residents hair
combed and all wounds clean and dressed. The third role is to ensure all jewellery from the
deceased resident is removed if any, all belongings must be packed and given to the family
members. The last but not the least is to ensure that the body is covered by a sheet and invite the
family into the room (In Crisp, In Douglas, In Rebeiro, & In Waters, 2017).
Believes in personal faith and how it helps performance for the end of life care
Catholics believe that once a person dies there is an afterlife and if a person has not repented
before his death time he or she would not enter the kingdom of heaven. When the patient is close
to his or her death. The priest must be called to pray with the patient and sacrament of the
anointing is given. The patient cultural context is necessary at the end of life care. The decisions
ns that the deceased family members make is based on cultural influences. The nurse should
consider an end of life care as a spiritual aspect of patients' needs example if a patient dies before
seeing a priest the nurse must call a priest before releasing the body to the mortuary (Taylor,
2007).

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Role of a nurse in supporting a dying patient
Professional roles the nurse in caring for a dying patient include ensuring that the family
members and healthcare team get information regarding the patient (Ackley & Ackley-Ladwig-
Swan-Tucker, 2008). The nurse should understand the dying process and should be close to them
throughout and give them support. During death, people tend to be restless and also undergo pain
the nurse should be able to treat the problem. Spiritual roles of the nurse are to ensure that
religious leaders are summoned to pray with the patient (Eliopoulos, 2014).
CA advanced directive and how it feels to make this kind of decisions
According to the CA advanced directive, My life will not be extended if the disease is incurable,
second if I become unconscious for a long time and there are no chances of getting unconscious,
third if the burdens of treatment will outweigh the benedicts and lastly my organs will not be
donated after I die. The above choices will be tough for me to bare but it will be a relief to my
family members.

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References
Ackley, B. J., & Ackley-Ladwig-Swan-Tucker. (2008). Evidence-based nursing care
guidelines: Medical-surgical interventions. St. Louis: Mosby, Elsevier.
Eliopoulos, C. (2014). Fast facts for the gerontology nurse: A nursing care guide in a
nutshell.
In Crisp, J., In Douglas, C., In Rebeiro, G., & In Waters, D. (2017). Potter & Perry's
fundamentals of nursing.
Taylor, E. J. (2007). What do I say?: Talking with patients about spirituality. Philadelphia:
Templeton Foundation Press.