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Team care Providing end-of-life care can be rewarding, yet challenging, work. It can be physically, mentally and emotionally demanding on staff members. It is important to work together as a team and support each other . Remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Here are some tips that you may ʚnd useful:
Collaboration and work environment • If you don’t already have team meetings, start them! As a team, acknowledge that end-of-life care can be rewarding and challenging. is is difficult work; not everyone can do it. • Provide space, facilities and time for staff to be able to get away from the clinical environment to take their breaks. Ensure breaks are scheduled and taken. • Develop local work practices that allow for increased support for staff when delivering end-of-life care, for example, buddying systems, re-distribution of tasks. • Find ways to bring joy into the workplace; laughter is good medicine at appropriate times. Reflection, kindness and gratitude • Set aside regular opportunities for reflection. Reviewing and reflecting on the end-of-life care we provide gives us the opportunity to recognise when things go well, and to identify areas for improvement. • It is important to be kind to yourself and others. Working as a team and appreciating that we need to support each other to be able to do this will help. • At the time of a person’s death, pausing together for a moment in silence at the bedside is a simple but poignant way to honour the person. is would be particularly symbolic where family members were not permitted to be there. It also helps staff to honour the patient’s death and acknowledge the profound event that has happened. • Appreciate and show gratitude when you see acts of kindness – ‘ ank you for being there’. ‘ e way you spoke to that person was so tender and gentle’. Getting positive feedback is rewarding and helps us all to confirm for ourselves that we are doing our best, that our actions and words count. • Invest in taking the time for self-care activities, and offer support to your colleagues where you can. Remember that in all of this, we are never alone, always together.
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Caring for
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