Perceptions of bereavement care in consultant geriatricians and advanced trainees in geriatric medicine

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the perceptions of practising aged care physicians with respect to bereavement care. Method: A questionnaire survey was sent to 427 Consultant Geriatricians and Advanced Trainees in Geriatric Medicine. Results: Ninety eight percent of respondents believed it was important to provide bereavement care for patients and their families. Fifty six percent did not feel it was their role to provide this support. For those who provided bereavement care (33%), most used a combination of hospital and community based resources. Fifty nine percent of respondents believed that they had inadequate training in bereavement care. Seventy one percent of respondents were not aware of resources available to fellow colleagues experiencing difficulties coping with the death of a patient. Conclusions: Aged care physicians differ in their approaches to bereavement care. Aged care physicians may need further education in bereavement care.

Emotional and cognitive barriers of bereavement care among clinical staff in hospice palliative care

“…Bereavement care is a facet of psychosocial care and all clinical staff should take responsibility for bereavement care (NICE, 2013). Both physicians (Lemkau et al, 2000; Boyatzis et al, 2003) and nurses (Chan and Arthur, 2009) agreed about the importance of bereavement care in clinical service. In a large sample survey ( n = 2,583) of pediatric oncologists, 96% of participants agreed that bereavement care is part of good clinical care, and 82% sometime engaged in some type of bereavement care (phone calls, condolence cards, memorial services, family meetings, or referrals for counseling).…”

“…There were barriers for clinical staff providing bereavement care. Lack of time (Tse et al, 2006; Jensen et al, 2017), lack of knowledge and skills (Tse et al, 2006; McAdam and Erikson, 2016; Fan et al, 2017; Jensen et al, 2017), and lack of resources and professional support (Lemkau et al, 2000; Boyatzis et al, 2003; Jensen et al, 2017) were the most common barriers in surveys. Lack of adequate educational training was also an important barrier (McAdam and Erikson, 2016).…”