Nurses' experiences giving postmortem care to patients who have donated organs: a phenomenological study

This study examined nurses' experiences in giving postmortem care to organ donors. A descriptive, phenomenological approach was used. Operating room, organ procurement agency, and critical care nurses were interviewed; audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim. Text-based analysis according to Colaizzi's (1978) approach was employed. Postmortem care took place in the context of the gift of the organs by the family, the tragedy of traumatic injury and resulting brain death of a young, healthy person, and procurement surgery. Nurses were saddened by the death of a donor, and viewed postmortem care as the opportunity to achieve closure with the patient. Nurses became temporary kin with the family and the patient. They respected the body, and saw giving after-death care as providing comfort even after death. As they cared for the patient throughout the experience, nurses confronted the dilemma of maintaining the brain-dead patient on life support until donor surgery.