A Family Practitioner Nurse's Evolving View on Death and Dying

This essay delves into the experiences of a Family Practitioner Nurse (FPN) and how frequent encounters with death have shaped their perspective on life and end-of-life care. Initially, the author describes the emotional toll of witnessing patient deaths and the gradual process of detaching emotionally to provide better care for both the dying and their families. The essay highlights the importance of respecting the dignity of patients in their final stages and learning to prioritize their comfort. Over time, the author develops a deeper understanding of life's meaning through these experiences, recognizing the value of simply being present with the dying, offering comfort, and fostering conversation about their past. The essay concludes that while end-of-life care is challenging, it provides invaluable lessons about life's importance and offers hope and knowledge for those facing their own mortality.

Running head: QUESTION & ANSWER
Question & Answer
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

1QUESTION & ANSWER
How often do you engage with or witness death in your work? How has this experience or
the lack of it shaped your view of death? Has it gotten easier or harder for you to accept
the fact of death? As you explain, include your clinical specialty.
When I was at the age of 22, I became a Family Practitioner Nurse (FPN), after I
graduated in 2010. Usually I used work in both the private homes and hospitals taking care of the
family members and also the patients. I used to take care of all the residents of all age group. I
used to take care of them from hospice to their passing. Initially, my heart used to melt down and
got broke when some family member passed away because you get attached to them when you
start spending time with them. You consistently watch them as you spend time with them. It used
to affect me very much since being so young; I was still in that state of myself being invincible.
Initially, I used to remain emotionally broken after seeing five or six deaths of members
in the family (Sinclair, 2011). But, later after experiencing a lot of deaths, I started detaching
myself emotionally from passing away process, so that I would be able to take appropriate
decisions and take care of family members in better way, especially to those who are at their last
stage of their lives. Also, one of my senior helped me coping with my problem as he said –
“Death is a natural process in the field of nursing, and it is a regular experience for the nurse. So
as soon we make ourselves strong, easier it would be to cope up with the dying process.
Delaying it will keep on hurting me.” That is why, I started prioritizing the family members
about how I take care of them, rather than thinking about myself of how I felt about the process.
I made sure that that they are respected and given dignity till their last stage (Sinclair, 2011).
But as time passed by, I started getting used to the death process. As I continued to
experience the deaths of various family members, I started to understand the meaning of life and

2QUESTION & ANSWER
continued to discover its meaning by sitting at the bedside of those nearing death. I started to
understand that it can be easy to talk about someone’s birth or buying a new house or a car; but it
is very hard to talk about death. It is your own belief, value and culture that shape the decision
making and thinking process. Also, after seeing so many deaths, it became one thing clear that it
benefits a dying person when you just stay near to the dying person, talk to them about the past
life, and spend time with them. They feel comfortable and forget the pain for dying.
Even though, end of life can be considered as a debatable and the most difficult stage of
life, but it also gives great meaning to the people who are alive teaching them the importance of
life. Along with that, it gives them hope and knowledge regarding the incurable disease and also
teaches those individuals who will unavoidably face their death in the coming future (Peters et
al., 2013).

3QUESTION & ANSWER
References
Peters, L., Cant, R., Payne, S., O’Connor, M., McDermott, F., Hood, K., ... & Shimoinaba, K.
(2013). How death anxiety impacts nurses’ caring for patients at the end of life: a review
of literature. The open nursing journal, 7, 14.
Sinclair, S. (2011). Impact of death and dying on the personal lives and practices of palliative
and hospice care professionals. Cmaj, 183(2), 180-187.