A patient’s perspective about how her “world turned upside down”, is shared in this End-of-Life Essentials video.
Here is the link to her story, told in her own words. She shares her thoughts and fears, when first diagnosed with cancer and reflects on how that had an impact on her.
Click on the link below:
https://vimeo.com/eolessentials/patientperspective
Our friends at End of Life Essentials asked us to share this video with our audience and we said a big ‘yes’.
“It’s based on the on the experiences of very generous woman, who, when faced with her own serious and life limiting illness, wanted her experience shared to highlight the importance of genuine connections with healthcare staff,” the team explained.
And these are the reasons we agreed:
- by seeing what someone else has to say, hopefully, it will give you confidence to trust your own feelings and express them to medical staff, no matter who you are talking to – or how busy or important they seem.
- it reminds health professionals what it feels like to be new to the bewildering experience of hospital.
She felt scared, frightened and vulnerable.
“There were times when I was scared, frightened, vulnerable,” the patient explains.
“After my initial operation, the surgeon visited along with a team of people. I’d never met any of them before. The only thing I can really remember is being told in front of all these people that he’d be very surprised if the tumour he removed wasn’t cancer. He left without much further explanation.”
She became focused on the words that there was a 70 to 80 per cent chance of cure.
And after a treatment, consult or surgery “I needed to be talked through an information sheet, which they did sometimes provide and had the opportunity to ask questions. Often that sheet would be my lifeline between appointments.”
“Not many of the healthcare professionals would ask about me, my family, or my life, only my disease.
“I know they were looking after me but I struggled with some of the procedures that were part of the treatment.
“She seemed to be able to be in my shoes.”
It only takes one person to help turn all those feelings around – although it would be great if more of the staff knew some simple strategies to help comfort.
“The night nurse was a beacon of warmth…she greeted me by name. She checked that everything was okay with me, asked about my pain if I needed anything…..I felt safe and cared for.”
When you click on the video, if the message ‘Sorry Because if its privacy settings this video cannot be played here’ comes up, go straight past that and click on the blue ‘learn more’ button. EoLE wants us to share this with you. If you still can’t reach it, get in touch with the team, starting at;
https://www.endoflifeessentials.com.au/
or email the team at: eolessentials@flinders.edu.au.
Resources
End of Life Essentials is designed to educate doctors, nurses and allied health professionasl working in acute care hospitals who are delivering end-of-life care to the general public. It is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.
To see other materials they have produced to help patients have a better experience at the end-of-life, go to:
And: