Educate the Educator:
Awareness and Sensitivity
Client’s Basic Human Needs
Competencies 5 and 6
Module Competencies
5. Describe selected client service strategies including customer service, their
impact on quality client care and the importance of client participation in
group/family activities.
6. Define the stages and processes of death and dying and the influence those
stages have on clients and their families.
Competency 5
Describe selected client service strategies
including customer service, their impact on quality
client care and the importance of client
participation in group/family activities.
Competency 5
5. Describe selected client service strategies including customer service, their
impact on quality client care and the importance of client participation in
group/family activities.
Four units and learning activities round out the learning for this fifth competency.
A. Identify ways that healthcare workers can promote client services.
B. Discuss ways that quality client care can be enhanced in the health care
setting.
C. List common expectations for service.
D. Discuss importance of client/family inclusion in group activities.
Unit 5A: Promoting Client Services
Recommended Content
At times is seems as though adequate customer service is dying. Within
healthcare, the patient is always the #1 focus and providing patients with competent
customer/patient service is critical.
Some things to keep in mind with providing customer service to patients is:
• Stay focused on the client’s/patient’s needs
• Avoid allowing personal feelings to enter into a situation
• Recognize the stage of development of the client and how this impacts client
needs
• Recognize the impact of family in the client’s receipt of healthcare services
Unit 5B: Enhancing Quality Client Care
Recommended Content
When providing quality care to a client, it is important to remember that the client may
have feelings of vulnerability and may be in a crisis. Being aware of this will aid in the
healthcare provider delivering quality care.
The following list provides a few suggestions for the enhancement of client care:
• Come to work ready to focus on the client and Leave personal problems at home
• Take care of self physically, emotionally, and mentally so that you are able to meet
the needs of those you serve
• Seek professional development opportunities that assist in continuing in your own
development
Expectations for Service
Recommended Content
Common expectations for services received are:
• Service should be completed in a timely way
• Service is client centered
• Service in health care includes compassion
Unit 5D: Importance of Client/Family in
Group Activities
Recommended Content
Often times, clients/patients are lonely and as a result can suffer from depression.
The inclusion in group activities can provide many benefits, such as:
• Loneliness may be reduced
• Provides a means of socialization
• Increases self worth
• Refocuses negative thoughts to positive thoughts
• Promotes a feeling of acceptance
Competency 5: Client Service
Strategies
Recommended Learning Activities
Assignments
AS Competency #5:
Importance of
Participation on GroupFamily Activities
Resources
Assignment on website
Notes
Students review several
webpages on elderly and
activities and then answer
questions.
Competency 6
Define the stages and processes of death and
dying and the influence those stages have on
clients and their families.
Competency 6
6. Define the stages and processes of death and dying and the influence those
stages have on clients and their families.
This competency consists of three units and their learning activities.
A. List the stages of grief that occur in death and dying.
B. List the needs of the dying client and their family.
C. List the different causes of death and describe how this may affect the client and
families ability to progress through the stages of death.
Berman, A., Snyder, S.J., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2008)
Unit 6A: Emotional Stages of Grief
Grief: “The total response to the emotional experience to loss” “Grief is manifested
in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with overwhelming distress or
sorrow” Everyone experiences loss, grieving, and death at some time during his/her
life.
People may suffer loss of:
Valued relationships through moving from one city or state to another, separation,
divorce, or the death of a family member (parent, grandparent, sibling, spouse) or
friend changing life roles, as they watch grown children leave home or retire from
lifelong work .
Emotional Stages of Grief
Healthcare workers interact with dying clients and their families or caregivers in a
variety of settings:
from a death of an unborn child, to the adolescent victim of an automobile
collision, to the elderly client who dies from a chronic illness
There are many influences on the dying process: legal, ethical, religious, spiritual,
biological, personal.
It is important that the healthcare worker provides sensitive, skilled, and supportive
care to all those affected.
Berman, A., Snyder, S.J., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2008)
Emotional Stages of Grief
Recommended Content
Any discussion about death and dying can be uncomfortable; however, the more
that it is discussed, the less taboo it becomes.
Such a discussion with students can make a powerful impact on many people
especially given the fact that so many students have suffered numerous forms of
loss and/or death.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was responsible for introducing the five stage of dying and
death.
Emotional Stages of Grief
Kübler-Ross (1969) describes five stages of dying and although these stages
are listed in order, grieving people do not experience them in any particular
order for any length of time and often move back and forth between stages
Emotional Stages of Grief
1. Denial & Isolation Stage: a person acts as though nothing has happened and
refuses to accept the fact of the loss; person shows no understanding of what
has occurred.
2. Anger Stage of adjustment to loss; a person expresses resistance and
sometimes intense anger at God, other people, or the situation.
3. Bargaining Stage: cushions and postpones awareness of the loss by trying to
prevent it from happening. Grieving or dying people make promises to self, God,
or loved ones that they will live or believe differently if they are spared the
dreaded outcome.
Emotional Stages of Grief
4. Depression Stage: occurs when a person realizes the full impact of the loss.
Some feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, hopelessness, and loneliness;
resigned to the bad outcome, they sometimes withdraw from relationships and
life.
5. Acceptance Stage: the person incorporates the loss into life and finds ways to
move forward. Resolved to the fact that death is imminent and finds peaceful
acceptance and positive feelings.
Berman, A., Snyder, S.J., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2008)
Unit 6B: Needs of the Dying Client & Family
Recommended Content
The needs of clients and their family members when dealing with dying and death
correspond to those of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
As stated state earlier in the power point, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are:
• Physiological needs – providing basic needs
• Safety and security – promoting comfort
• Love and belonging – support by the family
• Self-esteem – learning needs
• Self-actualization – being at their best in spite of the disease or illness
Unit 6C: Types of Death
Recommended Content
Having a discussion about various types of death also lends itself to various
types of loss.
The various types of loss are briefly introduced here:
1. Actual Loss: Loss that can be recognized by others
2. Perceived Loss: Loss experience by one person, but cannot be verified
by another
Example: A woman who leaves her employment to care for her children at
home may perceive a loss of independence & freedom
Both actual & perceived losses can be anticipatory loss
Unit 6C: Types of Death
3.
4.
5.
Anticipatory Loss: Loss that is experienced before the loss actually occurs.
Example: A woman whose husband is dying may experience the actual loss in
anticipation of his death. (Berman et al., p. 1082)
Developmental Losses: Losses that occur during the process of normal
development, such as grown children leaving home, retirement from a career,
death of aged parents (these generally can be anticipated and prepared for).
Situational Losses: Loss of one’s job, death of a child, or loss of functional
ability because of acute illness or injury.
Types of Death
Types of Death
• Unexpected death leaves families feeling shocked and bereaved (Examples
might be death due to a heart attack)
• Traumatic death can lead to complicated grief: (Examples: suicide or homicide)
• Anticipated death from a chronic or prolonged illness; families may be physically
and emotionally exhausted from caring for the family member prior to death
Berman, A., Snyder, S.J., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2008)
Competency 6: Death and Dying
Recommended Learning Activities
Assignments
AS Competency #6:
Morrie and ALS
AS Competency #6:
Death & Dying
Obituary
Resources
Assignment on website
Notes
Students watch the
movie ”Morrie” about a
man dying from Lou
Gehring’s disease.
Assignment on website
Students write their
own obituary
References
All Psych & Heffner Media Group,Inc. (2003). Psychology 101: Personality development. Retrieved from
http://allpsych.com/psychology101/development.html
Berman, A., Snyder, S.J., Kozier, B., & Erb, G. (2008). Concepts of growth & development. In A. Berman,
S.J. Snyder, B. Kozier, & G. Erb (Eds.). Kozier & Erb’s Fundamentals of nursing: Concepts, process,
and practice (8th ed.) (pp. 428-441). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Cooley, M. L.(2009). A family perspective in community/public health nursing. In F. Maurer & C. Smith
(Eds.). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for families and populations (4th ed.) (pp. 327344). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Friedman, M.M. (1998). Family nursing: Theory & Practice (3rd ed.). Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange
References
Juliar, K. (2003). Minnesota Healthcare Core Curriculum (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Publishers
Maurer, F., & Smith, C. (2009). Community/public health nursing practice: Health for families and
populations (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Ramon, P.R. & Niedringhaus, D. M. (2008). Life span development. Fundamental nursing care (2nd ed.)
(pp. 197-223). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Prentice Hall
Wright, L.M. & Leahey, M. (2009). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention
(5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis
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