Post-Mortem Care Flashcards
(24 cards)
Care provided to a patient immediately after a person’s death.
Post-mortem care
Accompanied by a myriad of psychological, spiritual, and physical needs; nurses are in the ideal position to identify and address them.
Dying process
Kubler-Ross Stages of Dying:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
Not ready to deal with practical problems; may assume artificial cheerfulness.
Denial
Feelings of resentment, envy, or anger directed at client, family, health care, providers, God, and others.
Anger
Seeks to bargain to avoid loss. The client or his/her family asks for more time to reach an important life event and may make promises to God and others.
Bargaining
Grieves over what has happened and what cannot be.
Depression
Comes to terms with loss. May have decreased interest in surroundings and support persons; may wish to begin making plans.
Acceptance
Cognition or orientation indicators of imminent death:
- Agitated or restless.
- Cannot respond to verbal stimuli.
Cardiovascular indicators of imminent death:
- Tachycardia
- Low blood pressure or significant
widening between systolic and diastolic pressures - Dehydration
Pulmonary indicators of imminent death:
- Tachypnea, dyspnea
- Acetone breath
- Cheyne-Stokes breathing
- Pooling of secretions, noisy
respirations
Gastrointestinal indicators of imminent death:
- Diminished appetite
- Smaller amount of feces
- Incontinence
Renal indicators of imminent death:
- Diminished urine output
- Incontinence
- Concentrated urine
Motility indicators of imminent death:
- Limited mobility
- Bedfound
Clinical signs include the cessation of the apical pulse, respirations, and blood pressure.
Heart-Lung Death
New guidelines as adopted by the World Medical Assembly in 1968:
- Total lack of response to external
stimuli - No muscular movement, breathing
- No reflexes
- Flat encephalogram
In instances of artificial support, absence of brain waves for at least 24 hours indicates:
death
Cerebral cortex is irreversibly destroyed.
Cerebral Death or Higher Brain Death
Cerebral death is characterized by:
- Absence of responsiveness
- Absence of cephalic reflexes
- Apnea
- Isoelectric encephalogram
Stiffening of the body that occurs about 2–4 hours after death. Starts in the involuntary muscles (e.g., heart, bladder, etc.) then progresses to the head, neck, trunk, then extremities.
Rigor mortis
Gradual decrease of the body temperature after death, due to
termination of blood flow to the hypothalamus, hence its thermoregulation ceases and there is a drop of 1°C/hr.
Algor mortis
Discoloration of the tissues because of hemolysis and hemoglobin release. It appears in the lowermost, dependent areas of the body.
Liver mortis
Prevents the degradation process through injection of chemicals that destroy bacteria.
Embalming
Piece of plastic or cotton material to enclose a body after death.
Shroud
