The impact of approaching grief on the neonatal team: professional experience report

Abstract

This case report describes the holistic performance of the multidisciplinary team in a context of approaching the moment of death of a newborn, in a cross-cultural approach, and its impact on the working group. We report the clinical case of a neonate diagnosed as severe congenital heart disease, who evolved with early surgical intervention and died on the second day of life. Considering the neonatal intensive care unit an area requiring performance of a specialized team that addresses, with a high level of complexity, in a broad way, the patient, and his family, the death of a child breaks the logic of the life cycle. The multiprofessional and family management of the newborn in question illustrates the opportunities that are still being improved in the care of mourning in the neonatal period. Demonstrating that the care process does not end at the time of death, and the period of mourning is still a challenge for the neonatal team. Even so, parents can be welcomed, with care provided in a private and secure manner, with their needs, and preserved individuality. We observe the need for professional qualification and support for mourning and the need for specific institutional policies, since the health organizations must be attentive and take care of those who care, be cared for with a different look at their emotions.

Figure 1. Death and life, by Gustav Klimt, 1910

Available from: https://www.leopoldmuseum.org/en/collection/highlights/146⁽¹⁶⁾