To help address complex trauma resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, five leading organizations are collaborating to offer free innovative resources for frontline providers on grief education. The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF), the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN), the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) have received a grant from the American Nurses Foundation (ANF) to produce Dealing with GRIEF: A Series of 5 Short, Powerful Videos.

Caring for the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients and their families is a demanding vocation in typical times, and this initiative aims to provide timely and practical information during an unprecedented time. Research has also shown that a significant number of frontline providers, at all levels, exhibit secondary traumatic stress, bereavement, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

The five video vignettes and downloadable resources will be relevant to anyone working in a healthcare setting. The video topics include:

• The four things that matter most
• Cumulative grief
• Processing grief with so much happening in your day
• Supporting the grief process when significant others are not at the bedside
• Processing grief as a team

“SWHPN is very grateful for the partnerships that have been developed to support this work, and to the American Nurses Foundation for supporting this vision,” said Jessica Strong, Executive Director of SWHPN. “Working with HPNA, APC, HPNF, and ONS to develop and deliver these resources will be invaluable to the social workers and interdisciplinary team working in hospice and palliative care."

These short and powerful videos will be available in June 2021.