Experiencing Death in the Emergency Department

This book draws on original research to illuminate how the personal values and norms of healthcare professionals in the Emergency Department (ED) influence how they experience the death of a patient, and develop tools and strategies to cope with these experiences. Experiencing Death in the Emergency Department begins by considering the nature of death in the ED; rather than planned and dignified, as part of a palliative or end-of-life care pathway, it is often abrupt and unexpected. Healthcare practitioners can be expected to ‘move on’ and function almost immediately after a death in this busy work environment, carrying the potential for emotional distress and psychological trauma.

Penzes investigates the psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of death and how it influences the lives of those people who are directly involved, including the healthcare professionals looking after their patients. Presenting models of bereavement, he looks specifically at deaths in the emergency department, exploring what makes a death memorable, and how the patient can be objectified or humanised. A discussion of how the personal values and norms of practitioners helps them to make sense of deaths they’ve experienced is followed up with an exploration of the emotional labour of death and its impact on healthcare professionals’ behaviours, decisions and priorities, influencing their coping mechanisms, the care provided for other patients and even their career choices.

Arguing that developing emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and effective self-management of personal values is crucial in providing holistic care to patients and their families, this book is an important read for researchers and students from nursing, medicine, allied health, business studies and sociology. It is of particular value for those with an interest in grief and bereavement, trauma, workforce development and wellbeing, and emergency care nursing.