2020 Volume 40 Pages 602-610
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the family support process of nurses in End-of-Life Care (EOLC) practice of elderly inpatients who cannot express their intentions clearly, which has not been paid adequate academic attention whereas it amounts to actual practices.
Methods: The study participants were 19 hospital nurses from four hospitals in three prefectures in Japan and data was collected with semi-structured interviews.
Results: The nursing practices for the terminal elderly inpatients involved three phases: (1) obtaining consensus within the ward’s medical team regarding EOLC nursing practices, which reinforced the practices, (2) guiding the family in preparing to accept the inpatient’s death, and (3) evaluating their nursing practices through the family’s reactions after the patient’s death.
Conclusion: The practice of EOLC for terminal elderly inpatients in hospitals is to consider the patient’s comfort and palliation. Nurses commit their families to be able to accept the inpatient’s dying and support them to provide the patients EOLC.
