Grave Words: Notifying Survivors about Sudden, Unexpected Deaths / Edition 1

by Kenneth V. Iserson, Alfred J. Bollet

Overview

Written to provide all those in the helping professions who must relate tragic news. In-depth information, protocols, and actual case studies tailored to a variety of situations teach potential notifiers:
-- To be aware on non-verbal communication
-- What words to use
-- "Helping" phrases and how to avoid cliches
-- Protocols for long-distance telephone notifications
-- Which resources and referrals survivors need
-- How to request organ or tissue donation
-- How to identify acute grief reactions
-- How and when to follow up with survivors

Includes national bereavement resources, educational outline, and in-the-line-of-duty notifications, as well as airline disaster protocols.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781883620028
Publisher:	Galen Press, Limited
Publication date:	07/28/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	342
Product dimensions:	6.04(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.79(d)

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: David J. Dries, MD (University of Minnesota Medical School)
Description: This monograph is a description of the rationale for communicating effectively in the setting of unexpected death.
Purpose: The purpose is to improve the communication skills of healthcare providers and provide a resource for survivors of sudden death episodes.
Audience: Practitioners at all levels providing care in acute medical fields will benefit from this work. The author is a professor of surgery and a director of emergency medicine in the Southwest U.S.
Features: In the table of contents material is organized by pieces of the author's protocol for communication and support of survivors in sudden death episodes. After relating his communication protocol, the author describes communication of sudden death experience in specific situations, including parents and children, emergency department death, obstetric problems, the EMS approach to death pronouncement and notification, military death notification, and management of disasters. Explanations are provided for the layperson for common medical catastrophes including brain death, sudden infant death syndrome, and the issue of postmortem examination. References are sometimes anecdotal and illustrations are absent. The lack of a more extensive reference list is a reflection of the limited literature in this important subject. A brief index concludes this work.
Assessment: This book fills a significant need in medical education and practice. As the author appropriately points out, acute resuscitation protocols such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Basic Life Support, and Advance Trauma Life Support include little or no information on notification of death. This is remarkable, as mortality rates in these situations are high. Not only does the author provide a clinically based tool which is easily read, he provides an outline for an adult education program to teach others the principles of survivor support in sudden death situations.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

This monograph is a description of the rationale for communicating effectively in the setting of unexpected death. The purpose is to improve the communication skills of healthcare providers and provide a resource for survivors of sudden death episodes. Practitioners at all levels providing care in acute medical fields will benefit from this work. The author is a professor of surgery and a director of emergency medicine in the Southwest U.S. In the table of contents material is organized by pieces of the author's protocol for communication and support of survivors in sudden death episodes. After relating his communication protocol, the author describes communication of sudden death experience in specific situations, including parents and children, emergency department death, obstetric problems, the EMS approach to death pronouncement and notification, military death notification, and management of disasters. Explanations are provided for the layperson for common medical catastrophes including brain death, sudden infant death syndrome, and the issue of postmortem examination. References are sometimes anecdotal and illustrations are absent. The lack of a more extensive reference list is a reflection of the limited literature in this important subject. A brief index concludes this work. This book fills a significant need in medical education and practice. As the author appropriately points out, acute resuscitation protocols such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Basic Life Support, and Advance Trauma Life Support include little or no information on notification of death. This is remarkable, as mortality rates in these situations are high. Not only does the author provide a clinicallybased tool which is easily read, he provides an outline for an adult education program to teach others the principles of survivor support in sudden death situations.

David J. Dries