Have you ever cried when a Pt died

Specialties Hospice

Published

Sorry if there is a thread somewhere on here already about this. I remember the first time one of my patients died on me. I was taking care of her and she got very sick, I was working in Assisted Living at the time so the rules here are a bit different. Anyways she was throwing up and I felt she needed to see a doctor it was pretty bad. I called our Manager on duty and she said we should wait and see how it goes. Anyways I didn't work with her again after that night but I came in 3 days later and they told me they finally sent her out to the hospital and that she died. She was in her early 40's. I lost it. I was so angry that I hadn't let myself get fired and sent her out, angry that the manager didn't send her out sooner, that maybe she would have lived if she had just gotten to the hospital sooner. I took it very hard. I began bawling and thankfully I had a nice co worker who covered my building and let me go compose myself. I cried a couple of other times, one lady I cared for was so sweet and reminded me of my grandma. Am I the only blubbering fool out here lol or has anyone else shed a tear for a patient that passed? Hospice is such a sad and hard, but rewarding and fulfilling job at the same time.

Specializes in ICU.

I sure have. When I worked ICU and now in hospice. And I have questioned myself on what I could have done differently.

All normal.

I am new ot hospice and home health. i was talking to my preceptor about how I take my work home and feel 24/7 responsible for my patients. I had one patient who I set up a nebulizer for the first time. Iw orked in ICU, but the RT's always did it. I was scared I did it wrong. My preceptor said " if she dies, it's not the nebulizer that would kill her, it's the cancer" And she is right. She told me about one time when she gave morphine and the patient died hours later. But the patient was in distress. It wasn't the morphine that killed the patient, it was the disease.

Crying and caring just makes you human.

Specializes in med-tele/ER.
I've been nursing for 25 years in all kinds of settings and my motto is still " when you quit crying when you lose a patient, you need to find a new job". I have always found that my patients' families were some how comforted in seeing that the nurse who cared for their relative or friend cared enough about them to care about their passing. So go ahead and cry, it lets off the anxiety and makes you a better nurse.

I respectfully disagree. I don't cry and I am an excellent nurse. I have never, and I doubt that I ever would cry when a patient dies. It isn't my personality. I have other ways of dealing with anxiety and it doesn't make a nurse that cries a better nurse. I am guessing you are talking in general terms, but most men I know in nursing would probably feel similar to myself.

Specializes in Nephrology.

Yes. Many times. Losing those special ones never gets any eaasier. I will give my manager credit though. She gets the death notices first (we work in an outpatient clinic and they dump into her computer) and if she knows one of us was particularly attached to a patient she will come to our office, close the door and break the news to that nurse. And most of the time, when the door opens, all of us in the clinic are wiping our eyes. I cry with families too. Not loud sobs, but I know many families that have seen me wiping my eyes in the hallway. They spend so much time with us - some of my pts have been my pts for over 22 years - we can't help but feel the loss.

Specializes in Telemetry, OB, NICU.

No, I haven't. I just get tearful if when the family cries after the patient's death. I guess my weak point is when someone cries in front of me. Unless the dying patient cried right before death, I won't cry. I do acute care, and I still get attached to some patients every once in a while. However, nobody I was attached to died on me thankfully. That would be a different case.

I've never cried in front of a patient or family/visitors, but I was a Pediatric Hospice Home-Care CNA for a while, and I broke down in my car many, many times. I'm great in a crisis or other situation, but I fall apart about an hour after it's all over.

Specializes in geriatrics, hospital supervision, ICU.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crying when you lose a beloved patient/resident--it shows that you have a heart. In LTC residents become 'family' to many staff members and they return the same deep feelings towards staff. Personally I spent many hours on my own time sitting with a dying resident, some with family there and some whose family had just left or couldn't be there. I also made it a point to go to calling hours, funerals or memorials and was warmly received by the families. I retired last April after 46 yrs in the nursing field--started my career in LTC as an LPN, had varied experiences both in acute and long term care as an RN and closed the chapter back in LTC. I have no regrets, many wonderful memories and stay in contact with many family members whose loved ones were entrusted to my care. As nurses we face or will face losses during our careers and showing emotion is not a weakness it is compassionate and should be the root of why we chose to be nurses.

Specializes in geriatrics, hospital supervision, ICU.

Mattnurse, I don't doubt that you are an excellent nurse and it may not be in your personality to cry and I bet you are awesome in a crisis---think I may have worked with you in a few places along the way BUT I respectfully disagree that most men in nursing would agree with you. I HAVE worked with some very manly men over the years and yes they do cry.......and they are not ashamed to let others see them. Does it make them better nurses--not necessarily but does it say they cared----and it does hurt to lose a patient whether you may have taken care of them for a long time or you lost them in a code situation and didn't know them at all. With time I hope you soften a bit---you'll still be an excellent nurse and maybe just maybe you'll have a better understanding of what wellsjc meant when he/she said it can make you a 'better' nurse.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Some of us shed a tear and some of us don't.

If your eyes fill with tears, know that it is okay...but check yourself and your emotions as it is important not to reverse roles with the family. We cannot let ourselves be perceived as needing comfort from the bereaved.

Some families view a tearful eye as an acknowledgement of the value of that deceased loved one.

I have known a number of male nurses over the years, I have witnessed very few of them cry at the death of a patient...even in the PICU, the NICU, or in Hospice. Of course, I have witnessed very few female nurses cry under the same circumstances too.

Specializes in none.
I respectfully disagree. I don't cry and I am an excellent nurse. I have never, and I doubt that I ever would cry when a patient dies. It isn't my personality. I have other ways of dealing with anxiety and it doesn't make a nurse that cries a better nurse. I am guessing you are talking in general terms, but most men I know in nursing would probably feel similar to myself.

I never cried over a death, while on the unit. I have cried on a unit only once. It was when I broke my a... (let me rephrase that) gave all I could give to a man that was dying. I even sacrificed time with the other patients so that I could make his family happy. At the end of the shift they went to my supervisor. They said that I was a careless bastard for not giving their father the care that he deserved. Exhausted, I went into a empty room and I cried my guts out. Because of their complaint I was never asked to come back to that hospital again. (I was agency). So yes, this hardhearted former Air Force cop cried. Does this mean I am a better nurse, hardly. You are probably ten times better than I am. I'm just saying I cry rather frequently when I get home. All of the sorrow gets to me - like the time I had to tell a beautiful young girl that was on her way to being a model that, because of a drunk driver she would never walk again or standing with grieving parents over a lump of flesh that used to be their baby before the truck hit him. Yes, I have had plenty of crying nights at home. I know that I should get out of the business but after 40 some years nursing sort of grows on you like a fungus.

Specializes in hospice, HH, LTC, ER,OR.

Yes, we all have a patients that are near and dear to our hearts. I have also attended many funerals.

Specializes in Psychiatric- Detox and ECT.

Thank you everyone for the responses! I recently had a Pt committ suicide. I had taken care of him on the inpatient unit and in ECT. He was 21 and wanted to become a nurse. We had a 'meeting' where anyone could join and we discussed what to do when a patient is determined to die. I've always hated to cry in front of other people and think I'm being too emotional, but it gave me comfort to know that this young man had touched many other co-workers hearts and it was nice to see I wasn't the only one crying over him. Everyone's stories also helped to see that I shouldn't feel ashamed to cry over a patient, as long as it doesn't send me into the psych ward over it :)

Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
yes, of course. even in critical care sometimes we'd have patients for long, long stays, and with primary nursing (thank god) you can get attached. when you see the first bad lab report, the first little bit of blood coming out of a tube where there shouldn't be any, the first couple of stitches dehisce, and you know where this is going because you've seen it before, you keep a calm face on for the patient's sake, but then you go in the locker room or your car on the way home and you cry and cry and cry. you go in the next day, and they're incrementally worse, but still there; a few more days or a week, and the end is in clear sight, and still you don't cry where anyone can hear or see you, including your spouse and kids. then the day arrives when you come in and all the pressors are up and running, the vent pressures are way too high, the gases are awful on 100%, there's no urine in the bag, the family has been told that it looks bad, and all you want to do is turn everything off, bathe the person you laughed with just a week ago for one last time, and cry. but you don't do any of that. you crank up the pressors, you push the furosemide, you cover the mottled legs as they turn color higher and higher. you suction, you fill and empty, you wipe, you open, you close.and then, just as fast as that, the code is over and everyone leaves the room. they ask the family to wait until you are ready. you clear away all the lines and the tubes, get the bloody chux off the floor and the linens in the basket, and get all of it with the vent and the pumps out of the room and out of sight down the hall in the utility room. then you bathe your patient one more time, do your best to erase the effects of days of failure and suffering, lay on fresh linens, and go get the family. then you all cry.
this is the best post i've ever read. thank god for you, mrs. tea.
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