Nursing care of patients during the dying process: a painful professional and human function (original) (raw)
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Nurses' Experience of Dealing with Dying Patients
Journal of Urmia Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, 2013
Background & Aims: Understanding nurses' experience of patient death, the appropriate approach to understand this phenomenon is the aim of this study. Also as a supporting role of the nurses, understanding the notion of death, they can better provide care for their sick patient and their family. As long as the nurses are not familiar with all aspects of death, they cannot be able to make right decisions about the care of a really sick and dying patient. This study aimed to explore, describe and interpret the patient's death, and to help the nurses to gain a deeper insight about that experience. Materials & Methods: A phenomenological approach was used to conduct this research, because it could obtain rich information about the patient deaths. Twelve nurses from high mortality wards were chosen and they were individually interviewed. The data were analyzed by Vanmannen method. Results: Five themes emerged from the findings that portrayed the experiences of nurses concerning the patient deaths (mental erosion, faulty interaction, combined with the stress of caring, a feeling of sadness and normalization). However, normalization of the patient's death may have beneficial effects for the nurses, but the reactions of patients and their families should be taken into consideration. Conclusion: The results revealed that nurses are experiencing serious problems. They need to be supported by their families consistently. Ignoring the needs of nurses, can have adverse effects on the patients and their community.
The process of dying/death: intervening conditions to the nursing care management
Revista brasileira de enfermagem
To exhibit the factors that influence the Nursing care management in the face of death and the process of dying/death of hospitalized adults in the medical-surgical units for hospitalization. The Grounded Theory was applied with the theorical support of the Complex Thinking Theory. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews from May, 2015 to January, 2016 with three sample groups totaling 41 participants: nurses, assistant nurses and members of multidisciplinary group. Data analysis followed the steps of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The category "Pointing out the interfaces of care management to patients in process of death/dying and their families" and its respective subcategories show the complex interactions established by the nurse due to the Nursing care management. Subjective, educational, sociocultural and institutional conditions influence the nurse interactions, causing order/disorder on care management.
Caring for cancer patients facing death: nurse's perception and experience
Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 2020
Objective: To know the experiences and perceptions of nurses who care for dying cancer patients. Method: A descriptive, qualitative study, developed in a private hospital in Sao Paulo, with a total of nine nurses, aged between 24 and 46 years old, who participated in a semi-structured interview. Results: Through Bardin's Content Analysis, three categories were highlighted: Death as a natural process and the final stage of the life cycle; Although it is difficult, it is important to get emotionally involved with dying patients and their family; and Reflecting on their experiences in the care of dying patients and their family. Final Considerations: The nurses' experiences and perceptions of the death of cancer patients showed the professional's involvement and feelings of anxiety and anguish. Adopting effective strategies to address people who are suffering, in the context of the study, can provide subsidies that will guide clinical practice in health.
Nurses’ experiences in caring for dying patients: A literature review
Jurnal Kedokteran dan Kesehatan Indonesia, 2020
Every human will face death, and some patients can experience a critical condition during illness before death. Nurses are medical professionals who are expected to be able to care for a patient's critical condition. Studying experiences of nurses in dealing with a patient's critical condition is needed so that they can improve their services. This study aims to analyze articles that explain about nurses' experiences in dealing with dying patients. A literature review was conducted by searching articles from the PubMed and EBSCO databases (using keywords "dying AND nurse AND experience"). In the PubMed databases were found 563 articles, and in the EBSCO were found 1,632 articles. From the all the databases, only 10 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results of the article reviews found that the experiences of nurses in caring for dying patients suggest nurses to have more empathy and to provide contextual moral encouragement for patients and the...
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.
To be involved — A qualitative study of nurses' experiences of caring for dying patients
s u m m a r y Objective: The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences (Ntwo years) of caring for dying patients in surgical wards. Background: Palliative care is included in education for nurses. However, the training content varies, and nurse educators need to be committed to the curriculum regarding end-of-life situations. A lack of preparation among newly graduated nurses regarding dying and death could lead to anxiety, stress and burnout. Therefore, it is important to improve knowledge regarding end-of-life situations. Setting, Participants and Method: A qualitative descriptive study was carried out in two surgical wards in the southern part of Sweden. The study comprised six interviews with registered nurses and was analysed using manifest qualitative content analysis, a qualitative method that involves an inductive approach, to increase our understanding of nurses' perspectives and thoughts regarding dying patients. Results: The results formed one category (caring—to be involved) and three subcategories (being supportive, being frustrated and being sensitive in the caring processes). Nurses were personally affected and felt unprepared to face dying patients due to a lack of knowledge about the field of palliative care. Their experiences could be described as processes of transition from theory to practice by trial and error. Conclusion: Supervision is a valuable tool for bridging the gap between theory and practice in nursing during the transition from novice to expert. Improved knowledge about palliative care during nursing education and committed nursing leadership at the ward level facilitate preparation for end-of-life situations.
Death and Help Expected from Nurses when Dying
Nursing Ethics, 2006
This project was undertaken to ascertain the perceptions of a group of Taiwan's fourthyear bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students regarding death and help expected from nurses during the dying process. Within the Chinese culture, death is one of the most important life issues. However, in many Chinese societies it is difficult for people to reveal their deepest feelings to their significant others or loved ones. It was in this context that this project was developed because little is known about how Taiwan's nursing students perceive death and the dying process. Using an open-ended, self-report questionnaire, 110 senior BSN students recorded their thoughts on: (1) their fears before physical death; (2) afterlife destinations; and (3) the help they would expect from nurses when dying. The data were analyzed using a three-layer qualitative thematic analysis. The students' reported needs during the dying process were directed towards three main goals: (1) help in reaching the 'triple targets of individual life'; (2) help in facilitating in-depth support so that both the dying person and significant others can experience a blessed farewell; and (3) help in reaching a destination in the afterlife. The results support the belief of dying as a transition occurring when life weans itself from the mortal world and prepares for an afterlife.
Palliative Medicine, 2013
The 'dis-ease' of dying: Challenges in nursing care of the dying in the acute hospital setting. A Advances in health care and technology have meant that the way people die has changed dramatically. 1,2 Populations of developed countries are living longer, 3,4 and chronic illness is the leading cause of death. 5 In Australia, population changes have meant that the number of people requiring end-of-life (EOL) care is increasing 6 and that people are more likely to die in institutional settings. 2,7 Australian projections of demand for care at the EOL also suggest that the trend towards institutional care will increase as the number of people dying grows in absolute terms, concurrent with a decrease in informal carers. In 2010, an international white paper ranked the quality of death in 40 countries, 8 and despite Australia ranking second, there is still a growing need to consider care in The 'dis-ease' of dying: Challenges in nursing care of the dying in the acute hospital setting. A qualitative observational study Abstract Background: Changes in health care and an ageing population have meant that more people are dying in the acute hospital setting. While palliative care principles have resulted in quality care for the dying, many patients die in an acute care, still receiving aggressive/ resuscitative care. Aims: The aims were to explore nurses' 'recognition of' and 'responsiveness to' dying patients and to understand the nurses' influence on end-of-life care. Design: A qualitative approach was taken utilising non-participant observation to elicit rich data, followed by focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews for clarification. Setting/participants: This study was conducted in two acute medical wards in one health service, identified as having the highest rates of death, once palliative care and critical care areas were excluded. Twenty-five nurses consented to participate, and 20 episodes of observation were conducted. Results: Nurses took a passive role in recognising dying, providing active care until a medical officer's declaration of dying. Ward design, nurse allocation and nurses' attitude to death impacts patient care. End-of-life care in a single room can have negative consequences for the dying. Nurses demonstrated varying degrees of discomfort, indicating that they were underprepared for this role. Conclusion: When patients are terminally ill, acknowledgement of dying is essential in providing appropriate care. It should not be assumed that all nurses are adequately prepared to provide dying care. Further work is necessary to investigate how the attitudes of nurses towards caring for dying patients in the acute hospital setting may impact care of the dying patient.
International journal of palliative nursing, 2013
This study aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions of nurses caring for dying patients and their families in the acute medical admission setting. A qualitative interpretive descriptive methodology was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of 15 nurses recruited via purposive sampling from three acute medical wards of a hospital in Hong Kong. The nurses perceived insufficiency and experienced great mental and physiological strain regarding their caring roles in this setting. Four themes were derived from the findings: lack of preparedness for patients' deaths, reflecting on their own nursing roles for dying patients, reflecting on the meaning of death and their personal experiences of the death of their own family members, and coping with caring for dying patients. There are similarities between these experiences and those of nurses in similar settings in different cultures. There is a need for further research into and educational preparation of nurses in bere...