Material
Meaning of Nursing Care for Patients with Terminal-stage Cancer in Acute Care Units
2023 Volume 43 Pages 79-88
Details
2023 Volume 43 Pages 79-88
Objective: This study aims to investigate the meaning of nursing care for patients with terminal-stage cancer in acute care units in general hospitals by analyzing the experiences of nurses working in these units.
Methods: Six nurses with <5 years of terminal cancer nursing experience participated in semi structured interviews, and their responses were analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method.
Results: The following three themes were identified in relation to nurses’ experiences in end-of-life cancer nursing: (1) living with terminally ill patients, (2) dilemma of nursing support for recovery versus nursing support for death without recovery, and (3) search for meaning and value in end-of-life care nursing. Seventeen subthemes were identified.
Conclusion: Nurses have had the experience of being with each patient, supporting them in their life and death, and sometimes standing side by side with them as they witness and discuss death. This nursing entails “mediating” the patient’s life and death. Furthermore, while dealing with the anxiety and hesitancy of dealing with a death of a patient in the course of many tasks for the patient’s recovery, nurses also face their own life and death through nursing and are seeking the meaning of nursing.
