Nurse's accounts of nursing the terminally ill on a coronary care unit

This paper is based on nurses' reported experiences about nursing people dying in a coronary care unit, and their attitudes towards such work. Two patterns of dying associated with cardiac arrest and cardiac failure were typical in the unit, each with its difficulties and problems. However, the nurses did not report any severe coping difficulties associated with their nursing care of dying patients. Their most severe difficulties were those relating to telling relatives about a patient's death. Elements within the unit's ethos and organisation associated with this positive coping were the high staff-patient ratio, low staff turnover, good and supportive relationships among staff, and the policy of open and honest communication about prognosis. Of particular importance was the feeling that everything that it was possible to have done for the patient had been done.