Death, facing it can paralyze people with so much fear, anxiety, and/or regret that they lose sight of the life still left ahead of them. Death is something that everyone has to face, and sometimes we forget to look at the needs of others, or even our own needs, when death is near. Introduction to Health Communication showed me the amazing work that San Diego Hospice does for people, and has given me a new path to follow in life so I can one day work in a hospice to bring peace to those that may feel that they are at their lowest. Working at a hospice will have its own challenges that I am willing to face because compassion and caring is what we need more of in the world today. I will first explain how uncertainty affects patients at a hospice, then I will examine the problems the caregivers and the patients …show more content…
One hardship that people face while coming towards the end of their life is uncertainty. Uncertainty comes in many aspects, and each aspect can bring up different types of problems for the patient and their family. Head and Cohen (2015) explain that there are "five sources of uncertainty: complexity of the illness, quality of information, probability of the illness, structure of information, and lay epistemology" (p. 184). Complexity of the illness will bring about uncertainty because people can feel overwhelmed with the unknown. The more complex an illness is the more information is needed about how the illness works, what the illness does, and possible treatments for the illness and their side effects. Hospices will try to ease their patients' uncertainty by offering information to the patient and their family. The information can be overwhelming and can lead to uncertainty due to the quality of information that the