Geriatrics Gerontology & Palliative Nursing

Statement of the Problem: Military members and Veterans have a unique end-of-life issue which impact and often complicates grief and bereavement. It is imperative that nursing faculty train and develop nursing students to meet the needs facing our nation as current conflicts draw down, our nation’s Heroes return to their hometown, and ultimately faces end-of-life issues. The specific war (Vietnam, WWII, Korea, Gulf War, OEF/OIF) and perceived acknowledgement by the healthcare professional can impact the Veteran and/or

caregiver’s sense of pride and shame; impacting their sense of grief/ bereavement. The grief experience may be impacted if death is experienced as a result of injury or loss associated with Veteran military service. Health care providers and nursing students need to have a fundamental understanding about nursing care of these military members/ Veterans and family members/ caregivers, to effectively recognize emotional, physical and spiritual conditions and develop nursing interventions that positively impact end-of-life outcomes.

The purpose is to describe the infusion of unique Veteran-specific end-of-life concepts in addition to existing grief, loss and bereavement content in a baccalaureate nursing program. The need to incorporate a specific Veteran focus stems from a high percentage of Veterans living in the surrounding area(s) of our State land-grant university.

 

Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: A mixed method research design, comprised of pre- and post -test survey results, assessing student perspective of the holistic impact of end-of-life care (emotional, social, and spiritual injuries) sustained by Veterans will be used. A video by Deborah Grassman entitled “Wounded Warriors: Their Last Battle” will be also be utilized to solicit qualitative perspectives and spearhead dialogue from the student perspectives.

 

Findings: Qualitative and quantitative findings will be shared with the 91 students participating in the concepts course.

 

Conclusion & Significance: End-of-life care as applied to nursing education will be discussed.

 

Recent Publications:

1. Boss, P. (1999).  Ambiguous loss--Learning to live with unresolved grief.  Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
2. Breen, L. (2012).  The effect of caring on post-bereavement outcome: research gaps and practice priorities.  Progress in palliative care, 20(1), 27-30.
3. Burke, L., Clark, K., Ali, K., Gibson, B., Smigelsky, A. & Neimeyer, R. (2015).  Risk factors for anticipatory grief in family members of terminally ill Veterans receiving palliative care services.  Journal of social work in end-of-life and palliative care.  11:244-266.
4. Grassman, D. “Wounded warriors:  Their last Battle”, Home healthcare Nurse. 25 (5): 299-304, May 2007
5. Hynes, C. & Thomas, M. (2016).  What does the literature say about the needs of veterans in the areas of Health?  Nurse Education Today, 47, 81-88.