At Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, clinical educator Cailtin Kroll has found a way of helping frontline healthcare staff honour patients who have died and find closure so they can move on and treat other patients. “We were finding it was really difficult to move from patient to patient facing these difficult situations and then have to move on like nothing has happened,” explained Kroll.
About a year ago, while working as a frontline nurse in the emergency department, Kroll recalled completing a particularly difficult shift. “I had a young patient pass away pretty much back to back with another patient who didn’t make it either and then going into the next room was just really really difficult to put that happy face on,” she said.