The Case manager
-
The end of life has changed dramatically in recent years as life expectancies have increased, chronic disease rates have risen, and families, health care systems, and society have changed. As technology has advanced, death too often has become viewed by society as "failure" and even "optional." Too often, referral to hospice has come too late to be sufficiently effective. While expertise in palliation of pain and symptoms at the end of life has been developed, palliative care has not been well integrated with management of chronic diseases or incorporated into the continuum of medical management from health and wellness to the end of life. We can, and must, do better.
-
Death and dying are universal experiences for people from all cultural groups. This collective experience is intertwined with issues involving mind, body, and spirit in the context of each person's unique culture. ⋯ Successful management of the process for clients and the people important to them requires a culturally competent approach. Moreover, the managers need to understand the cultural process of dying and the death process both for themselves and their clients.
-
A parent should never have to bury a child. One of our cultural beliefs is that someone can suffer no greater loss than a child. ⋯ Because of advances in research, medical care, and technology, our cultural belief and basic supposition that "children don't die" has been heightened in recent years. This denial makes accepting death as a painful reality that much more difficult for the child, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and even professional care providers.