Making a difference with dying people: positive nurse-patient interactions

This paper presents some of the qualitative findings from a recent research study, which explored the nature and effects of palliative nursing care for patients. By using story telling as the research methodology, the participants related their positive experiences about palliative care nursing. The results of the research indicated that there was a strong link between positive experiences and effective nurse-patient interactions. The characteristics and the results of these interactions are presented in this article. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential ethical problems of assessing palliative care patients suitability for research.