Resolve Through Sharing Bereavement Resources

Research shows that caring for dying patients and their families is the most anxiety-producing situation for nurses and other professionals. Preparation helps you feel confident that you can make a difference. Bereavement training helps decrease anxiety, leading to increased staff satisfaction and retention, and better care for patients and families. Learn why you should invest in the RTS standard of care at your organization.

Practicing perinatal palliative care improves certain outcome measures, facilitates goal identification and guided decision-making and provides opportunities for meaning-making for staff and families. A fetus, newborn or pregnant person should receive support when there are indications of a life-threatening or life-limiting condition. Organizational commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism, as well as professional education and well-being, ensure excellent perinatal palliative care. Our position statement provides provides you with essential information, including definitions and a list of myths and facts.

Some believe a baby’s body should be cooled to allow for optimal contact with loved ones in the hospital setting. This isn’t based on evidence. Our position statement provides you with essential information, including definitions and a list of myths and facts.

The Self-Care Pro-Pack guides healthcare professionals through self-care practices focused on mindfulness, self-compassion, and other restorative exercises. The informative booklet explores a deep, rich perspective on self-care through evidence-based principles and practices. While the companion journal provides prompts for thoughtful reflection and a safe place where the writer can unpack struggles and find meaning.

RTS pre-hospital bereavement protocol materials were developed in partnership with Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance of La Crosse, Wis. Emergency personnel are provided with little to no bereavement training. This can cause them to feel helpless and unprepared when supporting survivors at the scenes of fatal incidents. To address this issue, Tri-State and RTS established a protocol that provides responding personnel with bereavement education as well as tools to use in the field and support materials to present to the bereaved. 

Staff working in clinics, emergency departments and labor areas may encounter families experiencing early pregnancy loss. Our It’s Never Too Early (INTE) Tool Kit includes support materials for patient and families along with clinical resources for care providers.

We recognize how devastating it can be for families and staff when a mother dies during or shortly after birth. A Mother’s Memory provides grieving loved ones with a specially designed keepsake, mementos and literature.

Hear Dr. Limbo discuss the history of RTS and perinatal bereavement and her significant contributions in this recent interview. Recognizing the need to shift Americans’ views on death and dying, this second important discussion touches on themes of ritual, relationship, caregiving and more.

Karen Pridham, PhD, RN, FAAN, reflects on her journey of developing and advancing Guided Participation, and shares how conversations during car rides with Rana Limbo contributed to its development. 

Find bereavement publications by grief expert and RTS director emerita Rana Limbo in our bookstore. Honored with the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year are:

• Handbook of Perinatal and Neonatal Palliative Care: A Guide for Nurses, Physicians, and Other Health Professionals
• Guided Participation in Pediatric Nursing Practice: Relationship-Based Teaching and Learning with Parents, Children, and Adolescents
• Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement in Nursing and Other Health Professions