Exploring the role of spiritual care in post-death nursing

Traditionally nurses have performed the act of laying out of the body of a person following death, referred to here as post-death nursing care. This article provides a reflective account of the experience of expert nurses during post-death care. Over the preceding weeks to a woman's death, two expert nurses had cared for her; she was elderly and had just died from multiple causes including metastatic cancer. The observations of a novice nurse during the post-death care led to the understanding that this final act of caring is not only a procedure, but also has a deeper spiritual dimension that can be modelled and described as a continuation of the depth of care given when the person was alive.