How to Facilitate the Viewing of a Deceased Adult in a Hospital Mortuary

Introduction: In hospital settings, supporting bereaved family members to view the body of their deceased relative is a critical role for Social Workers. Providing families with the choice to view their relative is important as they endeavour to comprehend the reality of loss, relinquish care, and express grief.

Objectives: This session will combine a practical demonstration of a viewing with an analysis of the evidence; knowledge and skills used in working with the deceased and the living to create a safe place for the bereaved and the worker.

Approach: Using discussion and video of a standardized patient simulation exercise, participants will be taught how to facilitate a viewing of a deceased adult in a hospital mortuary setting.

Practice Implications: Teaching the ‘art’ of facilitating a viewing enables social workers to become confident with the clinical and practical tasks involved so as to better meet the needs of bereaved families.

Conclusions:  Hospital based social workers facilitating viewings of deceased patients have a key role in creating a sensitive and safe space for the expression of grief. This demands social workers to be comfortable with the dead as well as engaged with the living. This session will demonstrate how to achieve this.