As part of my clinical experience at The Methodist Hospital this semester, everyone in my class who is assigned there comes together every other week for a conference. During this time we have a lecturer on a specified topic, and then 5-6 students per week discuss an issue they have encountered during their time there.

 Today’s lecture was on end-of-life and palliative care. This is something I am extremely passionate about. I remember when we had to watch the movie Wit in class a year ago, and I had to keep myself from completely losing it. I think I’ve written here before that for some reason I am drawn to the patients who are nearing end-of-life or who are dealing with serious illnesses. I feel that they are so often overlooked, neglected, and not given the chance to die with dignity. I want to help change that.

Our lecturer was a member of the palliative care team, and she began with a skit that brought up so many things, things that people are uncomfortable talking about, like intimacy at end-of-life. She told this story:

“I was called in to consult on a patient in the CVICU, a younger man who was dying. His wife was there with him, and she asked me what she could expect with all this. I went over things with her, and then I asked, ‘Would you like to just curl up in bed with your husband and hold him one last time? Because we can take care of the equipment and make that happen.’ Tears sprung to her eyes and she responded, ‘I didn’t know I could do that.'”

And I was weeping in the conference room. I don’t know how everyone wasn’t. It’s little things like this that will make all the difference. That’s the kind of nurse I want to be.