Postmortem Care

Postmortem care encompasses all nursing activities performed after a patient has been pronounced dead, including body preparation, family support, documentation, and coordination with relevant agencies. Understanding the physiological changes that occur after death is essential for the practical nurse to perform competent postmortem care and to communicate accurately with families and the healthcare team. Death occurs when irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions takes place, or when irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem, occurs. Clinical death is confirmed by the absence of heartbeat, respirations, and brainstem reflexes. The physician, nurse practitioner, or other authorized provider pronounces death and documents the time of death. After circulatory arrest, a predictable sequence of postmortem changes begins. Algor mortis (cooling of the body) begins immediately as the body equilibrates with ambient temperature, cooling at approximately 1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius per hour under standard conditions. Livor mortis (dependent lividity) develops within 1 to 2 hours as blood pools in dependent areas under the influence of gravity, producing reddish-purple discoloration of the skin on the underside of the...