Recently, My facility implemented at wonderful program for end-of-life/Palliative care patients. No One Dies Alone (NODA) has trained volunteers sit with and comfort actively dying patients who would otherwise die alone (no local family, friends, etc). I think this program is LONG overdue in modern healthcare. Are there any facilities out there that have similar programs like this?
What is your opinion?
The volunteers are on call 24/7 and provide emotional/spiritual comfort care but do not assist or provide nursing care (with the exceptions being oral care and massages).
The very wonderful hospice nurses in our area have told me that it is common for people to wait until everyone exits the room, as in a bathroom break, to actually let themselves slip away. That however does not mean they want to be alone up until the point they are ready to pass although they may. It just means they want to pass alone. To many people death is a very personal, intimate thing. I love my hospice rotation and have thought about working there. I think the people that do this kind of work are teh most wonderful kindest people I have met. I felt so good when I left there in the evening but I tossed and turned almost every night I came home especially when I had someone that had pain that was not controllable. I could not sleep well that night and woke up a few times crying. BLess all of you with the emotional stamina to do the job and still function yourselves.
Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
This is a growing practice, particularly in hospitals that have palliative care programs or that are closely associated with a hospice.
It is true that some people seem to prefer to die when there is no one in the room, however, we cannot necessarily know who those people are in advance. For that reason it is a compassionate and caring thing to sit with them and hold their hand, etc...
NODA are wonderful programs and the volunteers are often very blessed by their experiences.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I think this is a great thing (for those that want it) I just had my first experience with death in my clinicals. It was a bad week in the hospice unit that day as 4 patients passed and all were left by themselves and 2 of them I knew for sure did NOT want to be left alone. Us students tried taking turns sitting with them until post conference, they all later passed that evening, my one Pt. in particular had expressed to me her fear of being alone and it broke my heart when I had to leave that day.
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach just rolled out their NODA program after 5 years in the making. They are starting with the Clinical Care Extenders that have already been at the hospital and their auxilliary volunteers. The training was amazing and there are about 30 of us that are starting this month. I believe that it will be so beneficial for many people that do not wish to die alone. While we were training there was a woman who was dying that expressed a desire for a volunteer to be with her as she died. Apparently, her children were so distraught over the impending death of their mother that they could not bear to be with her. We were all glad that someone was there...as death approaches, we are no longer strangers. We are just people caring for and being present for each other.
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AnnaN5
429 Posts
Our hospital has this program as well.