Related Experiment Videos
Prognostication in advance cancer: nurses' perceptions of the dying process
1University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. ndendaas@uwm.edu
Purpose/Objectives:
To determine how experienced nurses describe the dying process of patients with advanced cancer.
Sample/Setting:
Fifteen nurses, experienced in the care of patients with advanced cancer, employed by a midsize midwestern hospice or academic inpatient oncology unit.
Methods:
Individual interviews using structured and semi-structured questions. Responses were content-analyzed using Krippendorff's techniques.
Main Research Variable:
Dying process in cancer.
Findings:
Nurses view the dying process as a weeks-to-months-long, multidimensional process that encompasses physical, psychosocial, and spiritual/existential domains. Impending death is recognized and monitored. Common clinical signs include declining interest in life, increased weakness, somnolence, and changes in respiratory, circulatory, and cognitive status.
Conclusions:
Active (or acute) dying processes are recognized and monitored by nurses; the complexities and patterns of the phenomenon remain unarticulated.
Implications For Nursing:
Future research could explore both empirical and contextual aspects of acute dying processes. Nurses are in a position to develop useful knowledge about acute dying processes in cancer.