Page 50 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Spring 2023 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING

Palliative Care: The Time for the Talk

“I have this empathy for the families,” explains death. But I do think we can say, ‘How do you want
intensive care nurse turned PhD grad Lyndsay to live with this condition? How do we help you live
48 DeGroot, ’23, of Michigan. “You walk into an ICU as long as you can, the best you can, feeling the best
and there are the smells, and all the sounds, and you can?’ ”
all the machines, it’s just really overwhelming.”
As for her own eventual exit from this world, DeGroot
DeGroot saw families paralyzed by decisions, is happy to start the conversation right now. “I’ve seen
particularly involving older adults with multiple all the potential interventions that can happen, and
chronic conditions like heart failure. “They’ve had I know what ones are, like, ‘Absolutely not!’ … I also
this for many, many years. It wasn’t a car accident or have a very strong faith, so I’m not afraid of death. I’m
something sudden. And they would be on a ventilator 30, and I have a DPOA [durable power of attorney].”
and they would be sedated, and a family member
would have to make the call. It was so horrible to Until then, for DeGroot, who in February successfully
watch them go through, ‘I have no idea what they defended her PhD thesis at the Johns Hopkins School
would want.’ Zero clue. … I just kept thinking, ‘Where of Nursing, palliative care research will remain a
is palliative care?’ ” passion. “I’m a clinician in my soul. I want to be at
JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING SPRING 2023 “I’m just so passionate about, how do we make this way. But I hope that if I can champion other people
the bedside. I want to be in the room, having the
DeGroot had heard about palliative care but, like
conversations, being the support person. And as a
so many others, didn’t really know much about it.
researcher I’ll never again get to do that the same
Unlike so many others, she decided she was going
to know everything.
to get to do that in their work, that’s really a purpose-
driven life.” ◼
more a part of our normal care? Because especially
with something like heart failure, COPD, cancer, we’re
all human. We know that we’re all going to die at some
point. Every conversation doesn’t have to be about
Meet more graduates doing
amazing work across the nation
at unitedstatesofnursing.org.