THE SOCIAL LOSS OF DYING PATIENTS

Abstract

Inevitably, a social value is placed on a patient, and that value has much to do with the impact on the nurse of his dying and, frequently, on the care he receives. So the authors have discovered in a study they, with a nurse faculty member, Jeanne Quint, are making of hospital personnel, nursing care, and dying patients at the University of California Medical Center. A clear recognition by the nurse of the evaluating she does can help buffer the impact and make it easier for her to determine nursing needs objectively.