Experiences of Palliative Care Unit Nurses That Lead to the Decision to Continue Advance Care Planning

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify processes in the palliative care unit nurses' experiences that lead to the decision to continue advance care planning (ACP). Interviews with 5 nurses revealed following 5 phases: Phase 1, Nurses are aware of lack of knowledge and skills necessary for a nurse; 2, Nurses are aware of the readiness and responsibility to spend time together with patients facing their lives; 3, Nurses are convinced that respecting patients' sense of value promotes the patients to live their lives just the way they are through an experience of being present at the deathbed of patients who lived out their lives just the way they are until they die; 4, Nurses support patients and their families to independently make decisions; and 5, Nurses obtain valuable experiences of feeling a deepened view of life and death and thinking of significance and new value of life. ACP is "Supporting patients to think of and respect things that they value so that they can "live out their lives" just the way they are.