Background:

Art has many different interpretations and is one of the most subjective forms of expressionism an individual can convey to an audience. In this piece done by Damian Dryding, titled “The Blooming of Death”, he displays an individual holding a flower with a skull blooming from it. Breaking the artwork down and looking at the different components that make it up, it is clear to see that the artist touches on 2 main concepts. Life and death. Life being depicted by the flower (finoak, 2013), whilst death is being represented by the skull blooming from the flower (Holly Joy, n.a.). Looking at the hands being cupped together and holding the flower, it represents two significant meanings. The concept of life and death itself (Bostwick, 2017), and also the nurturing factor it takes to grow a flower. The skull emerging from the flower shows us that no matter how life may turn out for an individual, we all live to die, as death is something we cannot avoid.

Reflection:

During clinical practice, clinicians experience many different situations throughout their day, and it is how they react to those situations that builds them as individuals. Death is something which comes naturally and is a concept in life that is ultimately inevitable. Dealing with this concept itself can be a difficult one, as there are many different factors which come into play. Certain health care professionals are able to go through the experience of losing a patient and not feel a great deal of sadness, whilst others will not know to deal with any of it and will find themselves fixating on the matter. Being in the medical industry, there’s a fine line which needs to be walked along when it comes to dealing with terminally ill patients. It is very important to be professionally distant from the patient in order to protect the professional. However, it is also important not to create too much distance from the patient, as there is still a level of professionalism needed to be displayed in order to show empathy for the patient and also their family. Clinicians need to deal with what they go through and try to take positives out of the situation, even though there seem to be so many negatives. Some clinicians see it as privilege as being able to help patients out in their last minutes of life, and see a patient passing as them finding peace and ultimately “going to a better place”. It may be tough to accept at first, but sometimes it needs to be understood that there’s only so much that a health care professional can do to help a patient. In some cases, the patient’s condition has taken a turn for the worse and there isn’t much that the clinician can do. As professionals, we need to accept that death is part and parcel of working in the medical filed. No matter how much nurturing we may try to do in order to restore the patient’s general health, death is ultimately inevitable. For some professionals, a good way of dealing with it all is by showing empathy, which is usually associated with positive outcomes for both the clinician and those involved in the recovery process (Helen & Scott, 2011)

In my experience as a clinician, I have dealt with death on two separate occasions. My first experience dealing with the situation was rather tough. I did not keep a professional distance from the patient in order to protect myself and found it difficult to move on with my day. I became fixated on what had happened and needed a moment to compose myself as I was too emotionally invested and did not know how to process my emotions. I then decided to start distancing myself a little more from the patients I see, and try to maintain a more professional relationship. However I did ensure that I still showed empathy towards my patients, as it was important to not distance myself too much. I needed to find a balance between being professional and empathetic, as I believed that even though we as clinicians do not need to empathize, it brings about a more humane factor to working in the medical industry. I feel that there are too many times where clinicians push their feelings aside and decide not to deal with what their feeling. Dealing with the situation allows the health care professional to process their emotions and deal with what they are going through. This is vital, as sometimes we end up burning ourselves, which could have a negative effect on our work (Wilkinson, Whittington, Perry & Eames, 2017) up However, everyone deals with emotions different. So this isn’t to say it will work 100%, as everyone is different.

References:

www.facebook.com/ATRpsychics. (2017, October 10). The Spiritual History, Meaning & Symbolism Of Skulls: history, Meaning, skulls, spiritual, Symbolism. Retrieved from https://atrpsychics.com/symbolism-of-skulls/

Bostwick, L. M. (2017, September 1). Hand Meaning & Symbolism. Retrieved from https://www.sunsigns.org/symbolic-meanings-of-hands/

(n.d.). Symbolic Meaning of Flowers. Retrieved from https://finoak.com/articles/symbolic-meaning-of-flowers

Examining the relationship between burnout and empathy in healthcare professionals: A systematic review. (2017, June 30). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213058617300025

Scott, & Helen. (2011, January 1). Empathy in healthcare settings. Retrieved from http://research.gold.ac.uk/6704/