The Structure of Practices and Tasks of Death Watch Care of Residents in the A National Sanatorium for Hansen’s Disease

Abstract

  This study aims to clarify the structure of practices and tasks of death watch care in the A National Sanatorium for Sufferers of Hansen’s Disease (shown as A Sanatorium). A semi-structured interview was conducted of four nurses with experience of death watch care. Then, it was analyzed using the qualitative unification methods (KJ methods) individually and comprehensively. According to the results of the comprehensive analysis, nurses tended to feel strongly toward “a necessity of death watch care with a focus on family” through their communication with residents with poor relationships with their families. With this feeling in mind, they were placed everyday in “death watch care, focusing on supporting resident’s lives through daily care” while trying to be conscious of life-support for them. In practice every day, they seemed to be satisfied and encouraged by “tasks of death care are to focus on the resident’s value of life.” However, nurses with little experience of death watch care were full of anxiety and dilemmas emerged when they began death watch care. During this process, it was verified that there was “a gap in consciousness among nurses administering death watch care” and “an uncertainness of policies of institutions that accepted the death watch of residents.” In this way, an method for future death watch care in A Sanatorium was shown.