A Healthy Conversation
A Healthy Conversation
Conversation brings meaning to life. But, what will happen when that conversation has to be focused on ones last living days? Everybody knows that dying is an event in life that no one escapes. We all will be faced with the many challenging questions and decisions that come with death. It may be for ourselves or for someone we love. Some object here, that talking about death can be depressing and possibly shorten terminally ill patient’s lives. However, studies today are showing that talking about “the end” can actually lengthen life and bring a host of other benefits. Benefits to the person dying include, bringing peace, a sense of control, eliminates some of the fear of the unknown, and better quality of life in one’s final days. Benefits extend to family members as well. These include ease of burden and being able to grieve when the time comes. Added to this is healing of relationships and a reduction of health care costs.
Of most importance is feeling peace. Talking about what one wants in their last days of life can bring a sense of peace, by knowing things are in order. But many people do not want to step into this uncharted territory. Talking about death openly today is equal to talking about sex in the early nineteen hundreds. It is even been referred to as a “taboo” subject. Even those in the health care profession, sometimes have a hard time bringing up the conversation with patients that are terminally ill. In an article in the Journal of Palliative Medicine: Patient-Clinician Communication about End-of-life Care Topics, it is stated that “Clinicians also hold on to beliefs that these conversations may take away their patient’s hope or that these conversations will lead to anxiety or fear (Reinke, Slatore, Uman, Udris, Moss, Engelberg, and Au). Fear or no fear, some things have a better outcome when talked about. There are too many decisions to make that will affect one’s last days, to just passively let the clock keep ticking
Conversation brings meaning to life. But, what will happen when that conversation has to be focused on ones last living days? Everybody knows that dying is an event in life that no one escapes. We all will be faced with the many challenging questions and decisions that come with death. It may be for ourselves or for someone we love. Some object here, that talking about death can be depressing and possibly shorten terminally ill patient’s lives. However, studies today are showing that talking about “the end” can actually lengthen life and bring a host of other benefits. Benefits to the person dying include, bringing peace, a sense of control, eliminates some of the fear of the unknown, and better quality of life in one’s final days. Benefits extend to family members as well. These include ease of burden and being able to grieve when the time comes. Added to this is healing of relationships and a reduction of health care costs.
Of most importance is feeling peace. Talking about what one wants in their last days of life can bring a sense of peace, by knowing things are in order. But many people do not want to step into this uncharted territory. Talking about death openly today is equal to talking about sex in the early nineteen hundreds. It is even been referred to as a “taboo” subject. Even those in the health care profession, sometimes have a hard time bringing up the conversation with patients that are terminally ill. In an article in the Journal of Palliative Medicine: Patient-Clinician Communication about End-of-life Care Topics, it is stated that “Clinicians also hold on to beliefs that these conversations may take away their patient’s hope or that these conversations will lead to anxiety or fear (Reinke, Slatore, Uman, Udris, Moss, Engelberg, and Au). Fear or no fear, some things have a better outcome when talked about. There are too many decisions to make that will affect one’s last days, to just passively let the clock keep ticking
Cited: Brownlee, Shannon. “Better Final Days; The End of Life Need Not be filled with Extreme Medical Costs and Intensive Care.” Los Angeles Times 26 Nov 2005: B19. ProQuest News & Newpapers. Web. 29 Nov 2011. Center for Disease Control. CDC/National Center for Health Statistics. : , 2011. Center for Disease Control. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. Connor, Stephen R., Bruce Pyenson, Kathyrn Fitch, Carol Spence, and Kosuke Iwasaki. “Comparing Hospice and Nonhospice Patient Survival among Patients Who Die Within a Three-Year Window.” Journal of Pain and symptom Management 33.3 (2007): 238. DeepDyve. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. “Doctors Seek to Improve End-of-life Care for Cancer Patients” PBS NEWSHOUR. PBS.org, 11 July 2008. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. “Late-Life Death and Dying in 21st-Century America” Credo Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. Reinke, Lynn F., Christopher G. Slatore, Jane Uman, Edmunds M. Udris, Brianna R. Moss, Ruth A. Engelberg, and David H. Au. “Patient-Clinician communication about end-of-Life Care Topics: Is Anyone Talking to Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?” Journal of Palliative Medicine 14.8 (2011): n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. “Research Shows Patients May live Longer with Hospice and Palliative Care.” National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization 19 Aug. 2010: N. pag. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.