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International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience | ISSN: 1522-4821 | Volume 20
November 26-27, 2018 | Los Angeles, USA
Psychiatry, Mental Health Nursing and Healthcare
World Summit on
Applied Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental Health
International Conference on
&
The personal loss in nursing and the transition back to bedside practice
Background:
Nurses are tasked with vigilantly monitoring patients in dynamic and fluid situations within a framework of
compassionate care. Yet, few studies have focused on nurses caring for patients using the skills, judgment and emotional stability
inherent to the profession when one has sustained a personal loss.
Purpose:
The aim of this study was (a) to illuminate how nurses negotiate their roles as a person who is grieving and one who
is a compassionate caregiver and (b) to explore strategies that facilitated or hindered optimal functioning during their time of
transition back into the workforce.
Methods:
A phenomenological qualitative design using thematic analysis was used to analyze and interpret the participants’
experiences.
Results:
Eight themes were extracted which provided a rich diffusion of data exampled by patterns of role confusion, lack of
preparation despite experience, stratified grief, coping mechanisms, spiritual connectedness, making meaning, creating a new
normal and compassion in nursing.
Implications:
This study emphasizes the needs to foster nurses’ psychological health through education and strategic policies
during times of transition. Using this theoretical framework may extend to examining other transitions within the nursing
practice to create insight as nurses adapt to new situations.
Biography
Debra Coleman 22 years in healthcare, she has practiced in a variety of settings ranging from medical-surgical to critical care. With a passion to learn, she has
moved through the continuum of education and obtained her PhD in nursing in December 2016 from Azusa Pacific University. Her focus of research is on the
transition process of nurses who sustained a personal loss and returned to bedside care. While most of the literature examines grief from the perspective of tending
to the needs of their patients, her research begins to fill the gap of knowledge that exists to support nurses tasked with vigilantly monitoring patients within the
framework of compassion while in personal grief. She has spoken at both local and international conferences to highlight the needs of nurses in grief. She currently
holds a full-time faculty position at California Baptist University and is currently working on a book that captures her own grief experience.
dcoleman@calbaptist.eduDebra Coleman
California Baptist Unviersity, USA
Debra Coleman, Int J Emerg Ment Health, Volume 20
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C5-022