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| Kristene “Kris”
Diggins, nurse practitioner |
Spreading hope
by Kristene C. Diggins
A person facing terminal illness may find it easy to give up hope. Accepting the inevitable and simply losing daily zeal for life easily follow diagnosis of terminal disease. It seems to be the natural course of things, but do we as health care providers magnify this hopelessness with our own attitudes? Are we hopeless in our approach to the terminally ill? Might reflecting an air of hope to our patients change this reality?
I remember well the first time I saw the effect that an environment of hope can have on a patient. I was caring for a young woman, only 16 years old, who was battling ovarian cancer. By all counts, the prognosis was grim, yet she was vivacious, with a zest for life that positively influenced those around her. She had been at the center of many activities in her community, always ready with a smile and encouragement for others.
When I met her, however, she appeared to be struggling to identify with the person she once was. Already entrenched in the world of hospitals and health care professionals for more than six months, her life consisted of one round of chemo followed by the next. In contrast to the environment surrounding her, she had an obvious joy that was searching for a way to express itself from within her feeble body. She told me she wanted to continue to hope for a new day, yet she was held captive by the ambiance of despair she felt in the hospital corridors. In listening to this patient, I wondered if it would be possible to arrange an outing, so she could experience once again the world outside the walls of the hospital, with its chemotherapy, radiation and drug regimens.
Together with her family, I arranged a weekend getaway for this girl, accompanied by her dearest of friends. She spent that weekend enjoying life, not focusing on the state of her health. When she returned to the hospital for further rounds of chemo, I saw in her radiant smile a glimpse of the young woman who was buried deep within. In that smile, I saw hope I had not seen before and wondered if she would be able to spread that hope to other patients in the unit. I also wondered if those of us caring for patients with grim diagnoses could also transmit hope. By communicating hope through expressions and words to our patients, could we give them hope?
Oftentimes, health providers lose hope and inadvertently communicate this to patients. The environment quickly becomes one of despair, fostered by our own attitudes. How different would a patient’s perspective be if he or she perceived a more optimistic approach to care? It is apparent that the environment surrounding patients influences their perspectives. Hope is contagious. I am convinced that hope expressed by caregivers can be transmitted to patients. When one heart is lit, many others will follow! RNL
—Kristene C. Diggins, RN, MSN/FNP, operated a small rural clinic in the Amazon jungle for eight years, where her duties included dispensing medications, suturing, ordering diagnostic tests and extracting teeth. She is presently in the United States.
