Abstract:

Bereavement care is well established as an essential element of palliative care. However, whether or not there is value in risk assessment tools to predict bereavement outcomes is open to debate. Members of multidisciplinary palliative care teams and nurses in particular are encouraged to provide high quality physical, psychological, social and spiritual care to patients and their families/carers, care that should include bereavement care. This article offers an analysis of traditional and contemporary bereavement theory, considers the use of a risk assessment tool to enable health professionals to make decisions as to whether an individuals may be at risk of a complicated bereavement.

Author: Marie Carmichael