A phenomenological study to understand the experiences of nurses with regard to brainstem death

In this study six nurses from general intensive care units were interviewed. The resulting transcripts were analysed using hermeneutic phenomenology.

The findings fall into five categories, feelings, communication, protection, education, and technology. Nurses appear to suffer a degree of cognitive dissonance that both adds to their stress and leads to difficulties in explaining brainstem death to relatives.

Nurses need more education and support to enable them to overcome cognitive dissonance and so give relatives honest information. Verbal information should be supplemented with a written information leaflet given to all relatives.