Nursing Education in Thanatology

Nursing Education in Thanatology is an excellent source book for planning thanatology courses or for integrating concepts of thanatology into a nursing curriculum. As the formal teaching of thanatology in schools for health care professionals is generally overlooked and ill-defined, many students and professionals will learn to deal with dying and grieving upon their first encounter with death. This practical book will aid educators in planned inclusion of thanatology in curriculum to insure the preparedness of health care professionals in assisting patients and/or their families during an emotionally difficult period. There are many suggestions presented for beneficial methods of integrating thanatology education into existing courses or offering thanatology as a single course for education professionals.A vital resource for inservice coordinators working with clinicians in oncology, hospital staff, and health professionals in community or outpatient health centers, Nursing Education in Thanatology is excellent reading for helping professionals working with elderly people.

Florence E. Selder

Contents Section I: Teaching Aspects and the Thanatology Curriculum Content - Considerations in Teaching Thanatology - Concepts of Thanatology in the Nursing Curriculum - University of Michigan's School of Nursing Curriculum Related to Issues of Death and Dying - Cremation in the Thanatology Curriculum - Death Education Changes Coping to Confidence - The LPN: Ability to Deliver Care to the Terminally Ill - The Near-Death Experience: Implications for Nursing Education - Guidelines for Death Education as a Developmental Process - The Value of Computer-Assisted Instruction in Death Education - A Study of the Relationship Between Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses in Practice Related to the Near-Death Experience - Section II: Coping Approaches and the Thanatology Curriculum - Grieving: An Essential Topic in Allied Health Education - Implementation of the Management of the Grieving Process in the Curriculum at Suffolk Community College - Section III: Clinical Imperatives - Clinical Imperatives Versus Ethical Commitments in Euthanasia: The Perspective of Nurses - Grief: Teaching the Hard Things - Reference Notes Included