Abstract
Purpose: This study was carried out to elucidate what role nurses working in emergency care thought they should play in terminal care in the intensive care and what difficulties they felt in practice. Method: Nurses who were working in the ICU/emergency department of a particular hospital in Japan were asked to answer the questions on a questionnaire form. The hospital had local guidelines on terminal care in place, and in the analysis of replies, an emphasis was given to how these guidelines affected the subjects' perception of nursing role in terminal care. Results and Discussion: The subjects were aware of their role as a provider of family support to ensure that the family understood the situation; as an advocate to convey the family's wishes to the doctor, and as a listener to whom the family could confide their emotions. A comparison of the study results against the Guidelines on Mental Care of Families of Terminally Ill Patients set out by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine revealed that the subjects lacked awareness of the role of championing the right of family members to make decisions on behalf of the terminally-ill patient. The nurses' clinical experiences were related to their understanding of their roles and practices in terminal care.
