Kaye T.L. Berg
University of Alaska, Anchorage
Effective Communication with Terminal Pediatric Clients
One of the most challenging aspects of nursing is providing end-of-life care for clients. These clients may require extensive medical interventions to promote their comfort, however supporting their psychosocial needs also plays a critical role in nursing management. Although communication is taught to nursing students, further efforts are needed to provide future nurses with the skills to effectively communicate with all of their clients. When caring for terminal pediatric clients, nurses need to understand what factors shape a child’s concept of death, how to create opportunities for clients to discuss his/her feelings, different techniques for exploring a client’s feelings, and how to incorporate the family into the process of communication.
When communicating with a terminal pediatric client, it is important for the nurse to understand what impacts the client’s concept of death. A major determinate of a child’s view of death is developmental age (Nielson, 2012). Young children and …show more content…
(2012). Nurse’s nonverbal methods of communicating with patients in the terminal phase. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 18 (1), 40-46. Retrieved from