Health Science students' attitude to dying

Health care professionals must be prepared, both as scientists and as humans, to treat, accompany and help anyone in the difficult moments prior to their death. The following study aims to identify the attitude of Health Sciences students to their own death process and the circumstances surrounding it, so as to be able to give them appropriate training in caring for those in this situation. 666 Health Sciences students at the University of Murcia were given a questionnaire dealing with different aspects of what would cause them peace or anxiety during their death process. We can see from the results that the thing that would most help them to die peacefully would be knowing that their life would not be prolonged artificially, and what worries them most is pain and suffering. We have reached the following conclusions from these results: we must train future health care professionals on a personal and professional level so that they are able to provide quality care and comfort in those situations and aspects that are associated with death in order to preclude wanting a quick death.