Rethinking on ‘patient-centered nursing’: from narratives of nurses regarding withdrawing and withholding artificial food and fluid in the terminally ill

Abstract

The paper throws a light into the concept of patient-centered nursing from the narratives of nurses regarding withdrawing and withholding artificial food and fluid in terminally ill patients. The nurses who raised questioned the ‘patient-centered nursing’ has the underlying feeling of ‘communality of death’, ‘my death’ and ‘one’s nature’. Those nurses knew the meaning of death that evolved over time and were caring for the patients based on their clinical experience rather than relying on the concept of ‘patient-centeredness’. While patientcentered nursing is the standards of ethical conduct in today’s nursing shifted from the historical disease/cure oriented model those nurses’perceptions suggested the possibility of different care approach.