Mitigating Poor Bereavement Outcomes and Supporting Staff during COVID-19

This event co-sponsored by Lab partner Transforming Chaplaincy

Many media outlets have written about the challenging aspects of the grieving process during COVID-19. These include deaths related to COVID and non-COVID-related deaths that have been impacted by restricted visitation policies in health care and by restrictions on gathering sizes, including funerals. While alternative rituals have been suggested, a gap in the conversation is evidence-based recommendations and resources. Join chaplain-researcher Shelley Varner Perez as she interviews palliative care researcher Dr. Lucy Selman from the UK about evidence-based resources to mitigate poor bereavement outcomes and to support staff. She offers recommendations before and after a patient’s death, as well as resources for advance care planning, communication via PPE, and supporting staff. These recommendations and resources address factors such as prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress, and other poor bereavement outcomes among relatives, as well as moral injury and distress in frontline staff.

   Dr. Lucy Selman is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Population Health Sciences. In 2019 she started a four-year NIHR Career Development Fellowship leading the OSCAR study (Optimising Staff-patient Communication in Advanced Renal disease). She also co-leads the University of Bristol Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group.