Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing
ResearchCaring for Families Coping With Perinatal Loss
Section snippets
Background Information on Perinatal Loss
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2008) report the latest available fetal death rates from 2003: 6.4 per 1,000 (over 20 weeks), 3.2 per 1,000 (over 28 weeks), and 6.9 per 1,000 for perinatal (over 28 weeks and up to 7 days old). Because many early fetal losses (miscarriages) are handled on an outpatient basis, the birthing unit nurses confront these three aspects of perinatal loss most often.
The existing literature on perinatal bereavement focuses primarily on the experiences of
Background Information on the Hospital and Current Bereavement Practices
The location for this study was a western hospital with a birth rate of about 200 per month. Although nurses whose primary practice is with newborns or postpartum women also interact with bereaved families present in this birth center, this study focused on nurses whose practice focuses on women during labor and birth. There are 35 nurses on the labor staff. A perinatal loss program called “Helping Understand Grief Through Support” has been in place for about 20 years. The goal of the program
Purpose and Research Questions
The need to learn about nurses' experience of providing perinatal bereavement care was identified by the coordinator of the perinatal loss program, who noted that some nurses seem more comfortable and more effective in providing such care than other nurses, potentially leading to differences in quality of care for families. She wanted to know what factors might influence this variation in comfort among the nurses and what might be done to facilitate the development of nurses' skills. She
Limitations and Further Research
This was a qualitative study with the goal of describing the perspectives of one group of labor nurses about providing perinatal bereavement care, thus the results cannot be generalized to other groups of nurses. A sample size of 10 is appropriate for an introductory qualitative study of this nature; however, the variability of the sample should be examined. Because 6 of the nurses who participated work exclusively on the night shift, and another rotates to nights, the perinatal loss program
Implications
If the nurses in this study are typical of other labor nurses, most would not consider leaving the unit because of the challenge of bereavement care. These participants clearly indicated, however, that more education about perinatal loss and enhanced peer support for coping with the emotional stress of such care are needed and important. The nurses stated that caring for patients who have a perinatal loss made them feel sad, and although they felt they were making a positive difference for
Acknowledgment
Supported by the North Colorado Medical Center Foundation.
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Cited by (59)
Women's Length of Stay in a Danish Specialized Unit for Perinatally Bereaved Parents
2021, JOGNN - Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal NursingMidwives’ experience of delivery care in late foetal death: A qualitative study
2018, MidwiferyCitation Excerpt :In this respect, very few studies have considered the experience of midwives faced with late foetal death as the reference professional. There are some studies that describe how labour nurses find it difficult to provide perinatal bereavement care to families experiencing a loss (Roehrs et al., 2008; Hutti et al., 2016). In a systematic review of parents’ experiences with health providers during a perinatal loss, nurses were identified as being more emotionally supportive than physicians, but a lack of training in bereavement support was detected in both, nurses and physicians (Gold, 2007).
Building confidence in neonatal bereavement: The use of simulation as an innovative educational approach
2017, Journal of Neonatal NursingCitation Excerpt :The conversation developed into a thoughtful examination of the nurses and midwives they had watched in these situations and the students were probed about their perspective of their professional role in bereavement. This stimulated further intrigue by the learners concerning whether bereavement was a rewarding or a challenging aspect of the job, as both notions have been highlighted in the literature (Roehrs et al., 2008). There was an analysis of offloading post these events, as nurses and midwives may talk to their family; their colleagues and an emphasis on the importance of debrief, to maintain a healthy work ethic.