Despite our best intentions it seems that caregivers are affected when residents die.
Our environmental scan conducted in 2009 with four LTC homes indicated that staff developed close relationships with residents and experienced a tremendous sense of loss and grief when a resident died.*
Is it possible to work with the dying and not develop a close relationship with them? What are your thoughts and experiences? What have you felt when a resident died? Did the experience change your caregiving?
*From the article Front Line Staff Experiences of Grief and Loss Working in Long-Term Care Homes from the CHPCA.