The purpose of this illustrative essay was to show that mandatory death and trauma education is crucial when it comes to healthcare and should be implemented better in nursing school. This would ultimately prepare nursing students better clinically as well as emotionally, reducing the high burnout and nurse turnover in healthcare today. After an extensive amount of research, I found that clinical preparation is what the focus is on in nursing school, with psychological and emotional preparation heavily dismissed yet, equally as important. Research done by Schenell et al. and Ohue and Menta show that specifically new graduate nurses are the ones that feel the most unprepared when faced with death and/or traumatic experiences. These situations ultimately lead to burnout, nurse turnover, emotional numbness, and lower quality care towards patients. This project used peer reviewed article analysis as well as educated the reader on educational simulations/programs that walk nursing students through step by step how to handle emotionally difficult situations. The research done concludes that education on death and trauma would boost emotional strength, reduce burnout, and better support nurses’ mental health.
