Communication of the death of a patient in hospices and nursing homes: A qualitative study
Purpose of the research
Announcing
the death of a patient to another in hospices and nursing homes (NH)
requires special skills, especially when the recipient is another
resident. The aim of this study is to describe how hospice and NH staff
deal with the communication regarding a patient's death, if this
communication is perceived as a problem, and strategies implemented.
Methods and sample
The
55 health care workers (HCWs, 26 nurses and 29 auxiliary nurses) of two
NHs and two hospices in Turin (Italy) were interviewed with a
semi-structured interview exploring the residents' perception of need to
receiving information on another patient's death, the experiences of
having given this information in the last 6 months, and the strategies
implemented. The interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi's method and
researchers looked for the main themes and related subthemes.
Key results
Six
themes were identified and grouped into 2 main themes: a. the choice to
tell the truth or not, which may be influenced by: the patients'
request for confirmation of the fate of the other resident, by patients'
fear of death (“I will be next”), the relationships among the guests,
and personal and group experiences;
b. the need to share own feelings
and the burden of deciding whether or not to inform the other residents
and how to go about this.
Conclusions
If a structured
discussion of experiences and reflection on cases is not implemented,
HCWs may limit communication to bare information, lies, and adopt
behaviors of avoidance and concealment.
Keywords: Palliative care, Communication, Death, Hospice, Nursing home, End of life care, Qualitative research
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