Losing patients - does it get easier?

[future L&Dnurse]

I am still in nursing school right now, but I'm doing my clinical rotation in oncology and the patient I took care of this week died. Not while I was there, but I saw the obituary while I was reading the paper. I know I didn't know my patient at all but I was still upset to see the obit. I just wondered if this gets easier or not - or if there are ways to deal with it that don't involve becoming completely detached from your patients.

[radoncrn]

As nurses we need to remember the entire spectrum of life care. Sometimes the most satisfying thing I do as a Radiarion Oncology Nurse is empower my patients to make their own end of life decisions. A well thought out plan at the end of life is as lovely as a well thought birth plan.

[bernard622]

I am an OCN and a cancer survivor. After 10 years in oncology I've learned that every nurse has at least one story to tell of an experience with a dying patient. I could recount hundreds from my work in AIDS care before I entered Oncology.

It is difficult to face one's own mortality and we come very close to it through our patients. Tell your story to an experienced coworker who is a good listener.