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Barbara Karnes Registered Nurse

Barbara Karnes, RN Award Winning End of Life Educator, Award Winning Nurse, NHPCO Hospice Innovator Award Winner 2018 & 2015 International Humanitarian Woman of the Year

While at the bedside of hundreds of people during the dying process, Hospice Pioneer Barbara Karnes noticed that each death was following a near identical script. Each person was going through the stages of death in almost the same manner and most families came to her with similar questions. These realizations led Barbara to sit down and write Gone From My Sight, "The Little Blue Book" that changed the hospice industry.

Books Authored By Barbara Karnes

Recent Content

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“We’ve done the best we can and we can’t fix you…”

Sometimes our patients and families don't want to hear the words "hospice" or "end of life care." I have been asked, “should we use words that are more sensitive?” I don’t think so; I don’t th…

Sometimes our patien…

Sometimes our patients and families don't want to hear the words "hospice" or "end of life care." I have been asked, “should we use words that are more sensitive?” I don’t think so; I don’t think we need to use other words to be more sensitive to end of life issues. This seems to be a problem today with physicians and healthcare workers. Don’t use the "d word." Address treatments but don't say "There is nothing more we can do." Everybody dies. Our bodies are programmed to die. From the moment we are born we begin to die, yet no one wants to acknowledge it. Studies show that American…

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Tomorrow I Will Make my Wishes Known, but not Today

We talk about a Durable Medical Power of Attorney and how important it is to make our end of life wishes known. If we don’t legally make our wishes known in writing and generally notarized, healthca…

We talk about a Dura…

We talk about a Durable Medical Power of Attorney and how important it is to make our end of life wishes known. If we don’t legally make our wishes known in writing and generally notarized, healthcare professionals will make those decisions for us.  Those decisions will be to try to start our heart when it stops beating. (The chances of this procedure being successful if there is a life threatening illness or we are age compromised are slim.) Medical providers will generally listen to the “loudest protester” as to what care is to be given. Generally that loud voice is shouting to do eve…

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Six Months After My Husband Died

It has been almost six months since my husband of 62 years died. As an end of life educator I have taught about loss and Grief, and even written a booklet about it. BUT what I didn’t really understa…

It has been almost s…

It has been almost six months since my husband of 62 years died. As an end of life educator I have taught about loss and Grief, and even written a booklet about it. BUT what I didn’t really understand were the emotional thoughts and feelings of Grief. I couldn’t and didn’t understand because I had not walked in those particular shoes yet. Now I have. I’ve shared thoughts with you during this Grief journey. My thinking is if I am feeling a particular way, then others must also. SO, here is what I have experienced recently that would appear “wrong.” I think others must have felt this…

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How the Body Prepares to Die

If you look at a person from a healthy perspective you see the need for food, sleep, and socialization. We eat to live. Sleep to revitalize. Interact with others for stimulation.  If the body is prep…

If you look at a per…

If you look at a person from a healthy perspective you see the need for food, sleep, and socialization. We eat to live. Sleep to revitalize. Interact with others for stimulation.  If the body is preparing to die, the reverse is the norm. We gradually stop eating. We begin sleeping more. We begin withdrawing from worldly interests. All of these patterns are part of the normal life progression. However, most people don’t think of the dying part as normal. They have been led to believe that something pathological is happening. Our body is programmed to die. We are born. We experience, and then…

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Can We Revive the Essence of Hospice?

Dear Barbara,  What suggestions do you have in overcoming the changes we see in hospice and healthcare today? It doesn't look like it did 20 years ago. How do we maintain balance while keeping patien…

Dear Barbara,  What…

Dear Barbara,  What suggestions do you have in overcoming the changes we see in hospice and healthcare today? It doesn't look like it did 20 years ago. How do we maintain balance while keeping patients centered?  Hospice originated outside of the medical model. It met needs the medical establishment did not. Gradually, ever so slowly, hospice agencies have been absorbed into that medical model and the original concept has morphed into a business. With any business, money becomes an important factor. With hospice outside of the medical model, in the hands of not-for-profits, it struggled to k…

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