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From February 2000
NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2000, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.
 An emergency-care expert panel drafts the bereavement practice guidelines at NASW's national office. |
Procedures should be in place before the inevitable death of a child.
A guideline to help health care professionals respond well when a child dies suddenly was developed over the past year by NASW under a contract from the federal Maternal & Child Health Bureau and its Emergency Medical Services for Children Program.
The 29-page document, Bereavement Practice Guidelines for Health Care Professionals in the Emergency Department: Best Practices in Supporting the Family and Staff When a Child Dies Suddenly, outlines methods of helping families based on research and the thinking of an expert panel convened by NASW.
The guidelines, developed by a panel of experts in the field of emergency services, recommend that procedures be in place and staff trained before an emergency department has to care for the family of a dying child.
The guidelines recommend that health care professionals collaborate actively and continuously with the family, providing timely information and support to parents and respect the wishes, strengths, cultural, spiritual and religious needs of the family.
Procedures need to be in place for how the emergency department is to relate to media, police, private physicians, medical examiner, child protection authorities, organ and tissue transplant teams and others in the community, the guidelines say.
Emergency department staff need training in emotional, cognitive, behavioral, psychological and social reactions parents and siblings face with a health care crisis and sudden death of a child, according to the guidelines.
This includes training in telling the family about the death of their child, providing support and follow-up care for the bereaved.
The guidelines have suggestions for helping hospital staff deal with childhood deaths, including debriefing sessions by crisis-intervention specialists who work outside the emergency department.
The guideline development project was directed by Hal Lipton and managed by Mirean Coleman at NASW's national office.
For a single copy, send stamped ($1.21), self-addressed 8-1/2" x 11" envelope to: Information Center/921, NASW, 750 First St., N.E., Ste. 700, Washington, DC 20002-4241.
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Copyright NASW Press, 1998 |
