Question Answered step-by-step During our time on the job, we become so busy with our day-to-day… During our time on the job, we become so busy with our day-to-day tasks that we don’t always spend enough time with our patients. Pulchaski refers to patients that are experiencing chronic illness and the multitude of questions and fears that they may have of the unknown. The article also discusses how health care providers can feel a sense of panic or fear when patients begin to ask such questions. I relate to this article because I have felt that way many times. During my career, I have learned to better these questions, but I still feel a sense of awkwardness when the topic is first brought up. The readings reinforce the importance of the emotional needs of our patients. Often, patients don’t know how to grieve, don’t understand normal grieving or don’t have a belief. As health care providers we must take responsibility to recognize this, provide emotional support and then involve the social workers and chaplains. I worked in a hospice for quite some time, and I learned so much from working with those (or future health care workers) disciplines. I was surprised at how often patients who were adamant that they didn’t have spiritual needs benefited from a chaplain visit after many long talks among us. It seemed to bring a sense of peace and alleviate any fears that they had. What you think, references Health Science Science Nursing PHI -413V-O502 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)