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Caring for organ donors: the intensive care unit nurses' view
1School of Medicine, Botucatu, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil.
Qualitative Health Research
|January 9, 2001
Summary
Caring for brain-dead organ donors requires specialized nursing skills, navigating complex ethical and emotional challenges. This nursing practice presents unique contradictions and ambiguities for healthcare professionals.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Care
- Bioethics
- Phenomenology
Background:
- Organ donation requires maintaining brain-dead patients on life support.
- This practice challenges traditional nursing roles and ethical frameworks.
- Nurses face unique psychological and philosophical dilemmas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the lived experiences of nurses caring for brain-dead organ donors.
- To identify essential themes in this specialized area of nursing.
- To understand nurses' perceptions of their professional roles and challenges.
Main Methods:
- Phenomenological approach used to gather in-depth understanding.
- Exploration of essential themes in nursing care for organ donors.
- Analysis of nurses' experiences, relationships, and self-perception.
Main Results:
- Identified technical and specific nursing care requirements.
- Described complex relationships with organ donors and their families.
- Highlighted nurses' perceptions of self in this demanding professional context.
Conclusions:
- Nursing care for brain-dead organ donors involves significant technical and emotional complexities.
- This practice reveals contradictions and ambiguities, particularly in affective and philosophical dimensions.
- Understanding these experiences is crucial for supporting nurses in this specialized field.