Information
- Assessment:
- Loss of self-esteem; feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, shame, and guilt.
- Fear of abandonment may lead to appeals for sympathy by exhibiting helplessness and vulnerability.
- Feelings of castration (loss of self) and symbolic death; loss of wholeness.
- Existence of phantom pain (most clients).
- Passivity, lack of responsibility for use of disabled body parts.
- Nursing care plan/implementation:
- Avoid stereotyping person as being less competent now than previously by not referring to client as the "amputee."
- Foster independence; encourage self-care by assessing what client can do for himself or herself.
- Help person set realistic short-term and long-term goals by exploring with the client his or her strengths and resources.
- Health teaching:
- Encourage family members to work through their feelings, to accept person as he or she presents self.
- Teach how to set realistic goals and limitations.
- Explain what phantom pain is; that it is a normal experience.
- Explain role and function of prosthetic devices, where and how to obtain them, and how to find assistance in their use.
- Evaluation/outcome criteria:
- Can acknowledge the loss and move through three stages of mourning (shock and disbelief, developing awareness, and resolution).
- Can discuss fears and concerns about loss of body part, its meaning, the problem of compensating for the loss, and reaction of persons (repulsion, rejection, and sympathy).