Nurses’ Experiences in end-of-Life Care in an Intensive Care Unit at Tertiary Healthcare Setting, Lahore (original) (raw)
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The Experiences of Critical Care Nurses with Regard to End-Of-Life Issues in the Intensive Care Unit
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Nurses in the intensive care unit might be faced with emotional conflict, stress and anxiety when dealing with end-of-life issues and thus need to be supported. In understanding the experiences of nurses, enhanced support can be given in order to assist nurses to deal better with end-of life issues in the intensive care unit. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of nurses’ with regard to end-of-life issues in the intensive care unit. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design using a semi-structured interview approach was used. The target population for the study comprise twenty registered nurses in the intensive care unit. Of the twenty nurses, only nine were willing to participate in the study. Purposive sampling method was used to interview nine nurses in a private intensive care unit. Data collected was thematically analysed, using Tesch’s method. Four major themes were identified, namely: (1) conflicting emotions; (2) ...
Background: Working in the intensive care unit can be traumatic for nursing personnel. Critical care nurses are faced with repeated exposure to death and dying as they are involved in caring for patients who are actively dying, have a terminal illness or face impending death. These nurses relate in different ways to the phenomena of death and dying within their nursing profession and their scope of practice. Critical care nurses often have a difficult time coping with the stress that comes with caring for those who are dying or relating to loved ones of those that are dying.
Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 2016
Meeting the heath care needs of patients at the end of life is becoming more complex. In Canada, most patients with life-limiting illness will die in hospitals, many on medical units. Yet, few studies have qualitatively investigated end-of-life care (EOLC) in this context, or from the perspectives of nurses providing EOLC. The purpose of this study was to seek to understand the lived experience of nurses on a medical unit providing EOLC to patients. Interpretive phenomenology guided the method and analysis. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 nurses from 2 hospital medical units. The underlying essence of these nurses' experiences was that of "battling a tangled web." Battling a tangled web represented their struggles in attempting to provide EOLC in an environment that was not always conducive to it. Seven themes were generated from the analysis: caring in complexity, caught in a tangled web, bearing witness to suffering, weaving a way to get there: struggling through the process, creating comfort for the patient, working through the dying process with the family, and finding a way through the web. The findings contribute to an understanding of the experiences of nurses in providing EOLC on a medical unit including perceived facilitators and barriers.
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This study aims to explore nursing students' perception and experience of end-of-life care (EoLC) in Indonesia, particularly in the family environment. Methods: This study used a qualitative research design to explore the experiences and perceptions of nursing students who have witnessed the dying of their family members. The study recruited 15 nursing students using a purposive sampling method, who were then invited to reflect and write their experiences in witnessing death of their families, and perceptions towards EoLC. The written reflections were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Thematic analysis showed that the experience of witnessing dying of a family member shaped nursing students' perceptions and attitudes towards EoLC. Some themes that emerged in this study included the importance of effective communication with patients and their families, symptom management, spiritual, emotional, and social support, as well as the need to improve nursing education and training. Conclusion: This present study shows that the experience of witnessing the death of a family member shapes nursing students' perceptions of EoLC in Indonesia. This present study provides recommendations that the students must be prepared emotionally and psychologically in caring EoL or dying patients. How attitude and readiness to care EoL patients are shaped by the experience in witnessing the dying family or loved one. As such, palliative and EoL curriculum should be included methods that allow desensitization and naturalization of dying for the students in order to make them ready to provide better EoLC for patients and their families. The results of this study can contribute to improving the quality of EoLC in Indonesia.
Exploring family experiences of nursing aspects of end-of-life care in the ICU: A qualitative study
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 2016
The aim of this study was to examine the experience(s) of family with the nursing aspects of End-of-life care in the intensive care unit after a decision to end life-sustaining treatment, and to describe what nursing care was most appreciated and what was lacking. Method: A phenomenological approach including inductive thematic analysis was used. Twentysix family members of deceased critically ill-patients were interviewed within two months after the patient's death about their experiences with nursing aspects of end-of-life care in the intensive care unit. Findings: Most family members experienced nursing contribution to end-of-life care of the patient and themselves, especially supportive care. Families mentioned the following topics: Communication between intensive care nurses, critically ill patients and family; Nursing care for critically ill patients; Nursing care for families of critically ill patients; Preconditions. Families appreciated that intensive care nurses were available at any time and willing to answer questions. But care was lacking because families had for example, a sense of responsibility for obtaining information, they had problems to understand their role in the decision-making process, and were not invited by nurses to participate in the care.
Meaningful experiences and end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: A qualitative study
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 2019
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive exploration of nurses' meaningful experiences of providing end-of-life care to patients and families in the intensive care unit (ICU). The objectives of this research were: (1) To explore what is meaningful practice for nurses regarding endof-life care; (2) To describe how nurses create a good death in the intensive care unit and (3) To identify the challenges that nurses face that affect their meaningful experiences and ultimately the creation of a good death. Research design: This study utilised an interpretive phenomenological approach using Van Manen's (1997) method. Setting: In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with six intensive care nurses employed in a 32-bed medical/surgical intensive care unit of an academic tertiary care centre in Canada. Findings: The overarching theme from the analysis of this experience was ''being able to make a difference" which was intricately woven around contributing to a good death. Three main themes were identified and included: creating a good death, navigating the challenges and making it work. Conclusion: The findings reveal how intensive care nurses provide good end-of-life care and create good deaths for patients and families.
Difficulties Felt by Intensive Care Unit Nurses in Providing End-of-Life Care in Southeast Iran
Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 2016
Introduction: Critical care deaths represent most hospital deaths. The difficulties felt by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses providing end-of-life care may cause nurses to experience negative attitudes toward caring for dying patients. This study was conducted to examine the difficulties felt by ICU nurses providing end-of-life care in Southeast Iran. Method: The study used a cross-sectional descriptive design and was conducted in 3 hospitals supervised by Kerman Medical University. Using DFINE (difficulties felt by ICU nurses providing end-of-life care), difficulties felt by critical care nurses providing end-of-life care were assessed. Results: The results indicated that the difficulties that were felt by critical care nurses were moderate (2.64 T 0.65). Among the categories and items, the most difficulties felt by critical care nurses belonged to the category of ''converting from curative care to end-of-life care'' (3.12 T 0.93) and the item ''life-sustaining treatment is often given excessively'' (3.49 T 1.14). Conclusions: The study suggests that health care managers should organize systematic and dynamic policies and procedures in dealing with end-of-life care to assist ICU nurses.