Difficulties faced by nursing staff when caring for a dying patient

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing is a profession that is particularly exposed to contact with human death. Caring for a dying patient requires the nursing team to be in contact with his/her pain and suffering. In their work, nurses must deal with many difficulties resulting from this beautiful but at the same time demanding profession. Aim of the study: Assessment of difficulties faced by nursing staff in caring for a dying patient. Material and methods: The study was carried out using the diagnostic survey method, by means of a question-naire, which consisted of 36 single-choice and 4 multiple-choice questions. The study included a group of 581 female nurses and 13 male nurses working in hospital wards in the Subcarpatian voivodeship. The material was collected in 2018. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS program. Results: The largest percentage of respondents (58.4%) believed that the greatest difficulty in caring for a dying patient is the lack of time that should be devoted to the patient. Nursing staff felt fear of the death of a loved one (63.3%). Over 48% of the surveyed nurses believed that informing the patient about their imminent death should depend on the patient’s condition and external conditions at work in the ward. Conclusions: Professional nursing care for a terminally ill patient should focus primarily on pain relief and ensuring contact with his/her family.