Ce livre donne « une voix » aux soignants sous la forme de 20 histoires d’expériences personnelles qui décrivent leurs efforts pour répondre eux-mêmes à la question : « Comment faites-vous pour continuer ? ». Chaque histoire se termine avec deux recommandations ou conseil pour maintenir une satisfaction professionnelle. Ce livre est destiné aux infirmiers, médecins, travailleurs sociaux, travailleurs dans des institutions de logement, équipes auxiliaires de soins, aux thérapeutes occupationnels, psychologues, religieux, volontaires, gestionnaires, responsables politiques qui d’une façon ou d’une autre sont impliqués dans les soins des mourants.

« Their so longed-for and so beloved baby son is dead. The parents’ sorrow cuts through me, and all those present, like a knife.”

“I knew he was going to die - I Had already been told that – but when it came to it, the truth didn’t really hit me. I suppose I just didn’t want see it.”

“How do you manage to keep going?” “It must be very difficult to have to see people die when you have been nursing them for some time.”

Everyone working in health care and facing the deaths of patients, clients or residents on a regular basis, will undoubtedly have been asked these questions at some time or others do not pose the question, the carer – i.e. the nurse, the doctor, the social worker, the sheltered-accommodation supervisor, the paramedic, the chaplain, the volunteer, etc -  Will probably have asked it of him/herself, anyway.

Carers are given a “voice” in thise book, in the form of 20 personal stories describing their own efforts for an answer for themselves to the question: “How do you manage to keep going?” Each story end with two recommendations, or tips, aimed at sustaining work satisfaction.

The insignht and recommendations presented in these personal experience stories, lead us into the closing chapter which sketches possible steps on the way to establishing an effective “Care for the Carers programme, based on the following three questions:

-What can the carer do personally (outside the working environment)?

- What can the carer do as a professional?

- What can the institution itself (including those in leadership functions) do?

The publication of this book has been possible thanks to a grant from the Dutch Ministry of Health, and was officially presented on 2 April 2003 on the occasion of the 8th European Palliative Care Congress held in The Hague (The Netherlands).