Grief and perinatal loss. A community hospital approach to support.
Hospital health-care professionals sometimes fail to recognize the depth to which parents grieve over a stillbirth and to acknowledge the validity of the parents' grief. By interacting with SHARE (Support and Help in Airing and Resolving Experiences), a parent support group for those who have experienced a perinatal loss, a hospital team was able to develop a written protocol with support measures to use when stillbirth occurs. This protocol has been in effect for three years and the staff has seen dual benefits. Staff members find constructive ways of offering support, and parents derive a sense of comfort and direction from the approach.
D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D005655:Funeral Rites; D006117:Grief; D006744:Hospital Bed Capacity, 100 to 299; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011247:Pregnancy; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support