A few months ago, several nurses came together to form a palliative care charter, focused on being more proactive in addressing quality of life needs and on improving the experience of care at the end of life. These nurses have done so many admirable things since they began but one initiative, in particular, profoundly affected a patient and her loved ones. Before I can tell you about it though, you need to understand how it came about. A few months earlier, we lost a dear friend and colleague, Karen Trimble. She was a lovely nurse and person and worked here in BMT for many years. One of the things Karen was passionate about was the care of the body at death. She firmly believed that the patient should be bathed, placed in their own clothes, and covered in a warm blanket so that no part of them came in contact with the cold metal of the transport gurney. Not surprisingly, when staff provided the end of life care for Karen, they treated her body in the way that she had done for so many patients here.
After this experience, Lauren Reveri BSN, RN, OCN, found an article in an oncology journal where she read that nurses at another institution did a study on caring practices during the post mortem phase of care. They implemented a post mortem procedure where the room was cleared of all unnecessary supplies, the family was invited to tell stories about their loved one while also helping bathe the patient, and then dressing the patient in clean clothes. After that, a non-denominational prayer was read while also anointing the body with lavender oil. Our team really wanted to incorporate this process here in Karen's honor.
Recently, the core palliative care group got the chance. After a long battle with cancer, a beloved patient was finally transitioning to death. Lauren, Carylee Pennington, ASN, RN, BMTCN, and Glaucia Lima, BSN, RN, MS-BC, approached the patient's family about whether they would be interested in performing this protocol with their loved one. They agreed and the experience was beautiful. The patient's best friend since elementary school laughed and cried as she regaled them with stories about her while they lovingly bathed her together. Then, Lauren read the prayer aloud while the patient's friend anointed her with lavender oil. They gave the friend a personalized printed copy of the prayer to bring to the patient's daughters as well as the remaining lavender oil. The friend reported the experience as being beautiful and providing her with a deep sense of closure.
As a result of their work, we are working on gathering supplies and writing the procedure to be able to offer this to all families of patients that pass away on our floor.