Reflecting on one's own death: The existential questions that nurses face during end-of-life care

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta Karlsson ◽  
Anne Kasén ◽  
Carola Wärnå-Furu
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Registered Nurses ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Care Experience ◽  
Group Interviews

AbstractObjective:When registered nurses care for patients at the end of life, they are often confronted with different issues related to suffering, dying, and death whether working in hospital or community care. Serious existential questions that challenge nurses’ identities as human beings can arise as a result of these situations. The aim of our study was to describe and gain a deeper understanding of nurses’ existential questions when caring for dying patients.Method:Focus-group interviews with registered nurses who shared similar experiences and backgrounds about experiences in end-of-life care were employed to gain a deeper understanding about this sensitive subject. Focus-group interviews were performed in hospice care, in community care, and in a palliative care unit in western Sweden. A qualitative hermeneutic approach was employed to interpret the data.Results:Nurses’ existential questions balanced between responsibility and guilt in relation to their patients, between fear and courage in relation to being professional caregivers and fellow human beings, and between hope and despair in relation to the other's and their own death.Significance of results:Nurses in end-of-life care experience various emotions from patients related to things physical, spatial, and temporal. When nurses encounter these emotions as expressing a patient's suffering, they lead to challenges of balancing between different feelings in relation to patients, as both professional caregivers and fellow human beings. Nurses can experience growth both professionally and as human beings when caring for patients at the end of life.

scholarly journals We Want More Than Life-Sustaining Treatment during End-of-Life Care: Focus-Group Interviews

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4415
Author(s):  
Mirinae Kim ◽  
Minju Kim
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Treatment Needs ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Basic Care ◽  
Life Sustaining Treatment ◽  
Group Interviews

We qualitatively investigated end-of-life care needs. Data were collected via focus-group interviews with three groups: young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. The key question was, “What kind of care would you like to receive at the end of life?” Interview data were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. End-of-life care needs were classified into six categories: life-sustaining treatment needs, physical care needs, emotional care needs, environmental needs, needs for respect, and needs for preparation for death. Because the Korean culture is family-oriented and talking about death is taboo, Korean patients at the end of their life do not make decisions about life-sustaining treatment or actively prepare for death. Therefore, to provide proper end-of-life care, conversations and shared decision-making among patients and their families are crucial. Further, we must respect patients’ dignity and help them achieve a good death by understanding patients’ basic care preferences. Future research should continue examining end-of-life care needs that reflect the social and cultural context of Korea to inform instrument development.

Exploring nurses’ end-of-life care for dying patients in the ICU using focus group interviews

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Kyeong Jang ◽  
Won Hee Park ◽  
Hyo-In Kim ◽  
Sung Ok Chang
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Group Interviews

scholarly journals Primary care physicians’ educational needs and learning preferences in end of life care: A focus group study in the UK

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Ellen Selman ◽  
Lisa Jane Brighton ◽  
Vicky Robinson ◽  
Rob George ◽  
Shaheen A. Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Learning Preferences ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Focus Group Study ◽  
The Uk

Parental decision making in pediatric cancer end-of-life care: Using focus group methodology as a prephase to seek participant design input

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Tomlinson ◽  
Michael Capra ◽  
Janet Gammon ◽  
Jocelyne Volpe ◽  
Maru Barrera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Pediatric Cancer ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Parental Decision ◽  
Parental Decision Making ◽  
Focus Group Methodology

Dignified end-of-life care in the patients’ own homes

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Karlsson ◽  
Ingela Berggren
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life World ◽  
Life Phase ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Nurses Perceptions ◽  
Significant Factors

Nowadays it is increasingly common that the patients in the end of life phase choose to be cared for in their own home. Therefore it is vital to identify significant factors in order to prevent unnecessary suffering for dying patients and their families in end-of-life homecare. This study aimed to describe 10 nurses’ perceptions of significant factors that contribute to good end-of-life care in the patients own home. The transcribed texts from the interviews’ were analyzed using phenomenological hermeneutical method, which focuses on the life-world of human beings. The results demonstrate that good end-of-life care presupposes that the aim of the caring staff is to provide safety, autonomy and integrity for the patient and family in order to create the respect required for as good and dignified a death as possible.

The impact of existential vulnerability for nursing home doctors in end-of-life care: A focus group study

2016 ◽  
Vol 99 (12) ◽  
pp. 2043-2048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian Jansen ◽  
Sabine Ruths ◽  
Kirsti Malterud ◽  
Margrethe Aase Schaufel
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Focus Group Study ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Are registered nurses ready to take care at the end-of-life: crossectional survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelija Blazeviciene ◽  
Lina Laurs ◽  
Jamesetta A Newland
Keyword(s):  
Registered Nurses ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Correlational Design ◽  
Inadequate Knowledge

Abstract Background: End-of-life care is provided in a variety of healthcare settings, not just palliative care hospitals. This is one reason it is very important to assess all the obstacles to end-of-life care and to provide safe and quality services to patients. The main purpose of this study was to examine attitudes faced by registered nurses in providing end-of-life care and to explore obstacles and supportive behaviors for nurses. Methods: A descriptive, correlational design was applied in this study. Cross‐sectional survey of 1320 registered nurses within 7 hospitals in Lithuania. Results: Registered nurses working in the three different profiles emphasized safe and effective care andthe importance of meeting the patient's spiritual needs at the end of life. The main obstacles assigned by nurses caring for patients at the end of life were angry family membersthe inadequate understanding of nursing care by the patient's relatives; family members' inadequate knowledge about the situation and lack of time to talk to patients about their wishes, lack of nursing knowledge to deal with the bereaved patient's family, lack of evaluation of nurses' opinions, and the evasion by physicians to talk about the diagnosis and their over-optimistic view of the situation. Conclusions: Spiritual needs were identified by nurses as the primary needs of patients at the end of life. Family-related obstacles remain one of the main obstacles to end-of-life care. Also, the behavior of physicians and their relationship with nurses remains one of the most sensitive issues in end-of-life care.

scholarly journals Devoted work without limits? Activities and premises of home visit work at the margins of community care

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsi Juhila ◽  
Cecilia Hansen Löfstrand ◽  
Suvi Raitakari
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Home Visit ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Home Visits ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Group Interviews

Community care provided through home visits is an increasingly common way to respond to adult citizens’ complex needs due to, for example, mental health and substance abuse problems. This study explores the activities and core premises that this work entails. The data contain six focus group interviews with practitioners in five service settings in Finland and Sweden at the margins of community care. Through a two-stage coding process, 11 activities and three premises – situationality, boundlessness and empathy – were identified. The findings show that home visit work at the margins of community care is comprehensive and flexible, requiring reflexivity.

scholarly journals Attitudes of registered nurses about the end – of – life care in multi-profile hospitals: a cross sectional survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurelija Blazeviciene ◽  
Lina Laurs ◽  
Jamesetta A Newland
Keyword(s):  
Registered Nurses ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Nursing Care ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Healthcare Settings

Abstract Background: End-of-life care is provided in a variety of healthcare settings, not just palliative care hospitals. This is one reason why it is very important to assess all barriers to end-of-life care and to provide safe and quality services to patients. This study was aimed at describing nurses' attitudes in providing end-of-life care and exploring barriers and facilitating behaviors of nurses in multi-profile hospitals in Eastern Europe.Methods: A descriptive, correlational design was applied in this study, using a cross-sectional survey of 1,320 registered nurses within 7 hospitals in Lithuania. Results: Registered nurses working in the three different profiles emphasized safe and effective care and the importance of meeting the patient's spiritual needs at the end of life. The main barriers assigned by nurses caring for patients at the end of life were angry family members, inadequate understanding of nursing care by the patient's relatives; lack of time to talk to patients, lack of nursing knowledge to deal with the bereaved patient's family, lack of evaluation of nurses' opinions, and the evasion by physicians to talk about the diagnosis and their over-optimistic view of the situation. The main facilitating behaviors to improve nursing care were end-of-life training, volunteering, and family involvement.Conclusions: Spiritual needs were identified by nurses as the primary needs of patients at the end of life. Family-related barriers remain one of the main barriers to end-of-life care. Also, the behavior of physicians and their relationship with nurses remains one of the most sensitive issues in end-of-life care.

Evaluating an Initiative to Promote Entry-Level Competence in Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Registered Nurses in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori L. Rietze ◽  
Coby L. Tschanz ◽  
Holly R.L. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Registered Nurses ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Entry Level
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