ELNEC Core Module 7: Loss, Grief, and Bereavement

Course overview

Welcome to the Loss, Grief, and Bereavement course for the ELNEC Core Curriculum. Within this important work, we often witness grief in our patients and their family members. As healthcare professionals, we experience a tremendous amount of loss for the many patients we have cared for, whether during an annual check-up in the clinic, during a hospital admission for cardiac by-pass surgery, during rehabilitation after a hip fracture, during home visits for blood pressure monitoring, or during memory care at a nursing facility. Grief and loss accumulate over time and may cause moral injury, compassion fatigue, and burn-out if unacknowledged. This course will assist you in supporting patients who are experiencing anticipatory grief and loss and providing excellent bereavement care to family, caregivers, and friends after a patient has died. Finally, it will discuss good professional self-care to allow you to continue this sacred work in a healthy manner. Although this content is applicable to nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other professionals may also find the content useful. The goal of this course is to provide nurses who work with individuals with serious illnesses in all settings with knowledge of loss, grief, and bereavement.