Nursing students receive bereavement training at Memorial Health University Medical Center
Nursing students at Georgia Southern University are now more prepared to assist families coping with grief from infant loss after participating in perinatal bereavement training at Memorial Health University Medical Center.
The workshop, hosted by Memorial Perinatal Bereavement Coordinator Jennifer Butler, a registered nurse in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing, equipped undergraduate students enrolled in the Women’s and Children’s Nursing course on the Statesboro Campus with strategies for communicating with bereaved families. Students were given the opportunity to learn about the stages of grief, phases of mourning and complications of grief. Additionally, students learned about provider grief and the importance of self-care to lessen compassion fatigue.
Attendees discussed how to use theoretical frameworks to provide relationship-based care in bereavement, which enhances the importance of partnering with the family for memory-making and keepsakes as a method to support a continual bond for a grieving family.
Students also decorated memory boxes to hold infant belongings, foot and hand print cards, and complimentary birth certificates. The memory boxes and print cards created will be used to support bereaved families throughout Southeast Georgia.
Assistant professor Nikiya Lewis, DNP, and Lecturer Ariel Klauss, MSN, RN, organized the training.
Posted in General Announcements, SON, SON Students