Registered nurses' experiences of caring for patients in hospitals transitioning from curative to palliative care: A qualitative study

Abstract

The aim of this study was twofold: to illuminate registered nurses' experiences of palliative care and of caring for patients transitioning from curative to palliative care in hospitals. A qualitative descriptive design was used. Group interviews were conducted with 11 registered nurses in three different hospital settings. Content analysis was performed. The results are presented in four themes: "Understanding palliative care in a hospital setting"; "Involving, supporting, and caring for patients and families"; "Striving for consensus and common goals of care"; and "Struggling with the hospital environment." The registered nurses described struggling with the interpretation of palliative care and with how to transfer it into clinical practice in their specific care settings. Teamwork and collaboration were challenging and goals of care incongruent within the team. Further implementation of a palliative care approach, with core components symptom relief, teamwork, communication and relationship, and family support, is crucial to improve both patient care and the conditions enabling registered nurses to provide good care for the patients and their families in hospital settings.

Perceptions and attitudes of Nursing students towards end-of-life care: a Phenomenological Study at a tertiary hospital in Uganda

“…This concurs with a study done in Sweden that showed registered nurses struggled with understanding of palliative care and transfer of knowledge into clinical practice [19].As noted in another study Nursing students need to comprehend how to handle a patient's death, providing compassionate support to the patient's family, friends, and loved ones as they grapple with death and psychological trauma [11] since they tend to spend more time at the bedside with patients than other healthcare professionals.…”

Age-Friendly Communities: Are they also “Friendly” for Death, Dying, Grief, and Bereavement?

“…Indeed, death is a classic example of medicalization (Illich, 1976), which is a process by which social and personal issues are understood as medical problems requiring clinical management (Zola, 2005). Medicalization should not be understood as an imposition of medical power (Conrad, 1992), because as many palliative care physicians will report, family members are often the ones who have a very difficult time accepting death and push for continued treatment (Lind, Bengtsson, Alvariza, & Klarare, 2022). Medicalization is perhaps better understood as a form of "collusion" between us and our fears of death and medicine's utopian aspirations.…”