Lived experience of caring for dying patients in emergency room

Dying often occurs in hospitals and frequently in emergency rooms. Understanding caring for critical and dying patients is necessary for quality nursing.

This study described the meaning of nurses' lived experience of caring for critical and dying patients in the emergency rooms.

This study was conducted in three emergency rooms of tertiary hospitals in southern Thailand. Twelve nurses met the inclusion criteria: nurses working in emergency room for at least 2 years, and experienced caring for critical and dying patients in an emergency department. Data were collected using in-depth individual interviews. Data transcription and analysis used van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Trustworthiness was established following Lincoln and Guba's criteria.

Experiences of caring for critical and dying patients revealed four thematic categories: defying death; no time for palliative care; lacking support for family; and privacy for peaceful deaths. These thematic categories reflected van Manen's four lived worlds of body, time, relations and space.

The study described the meaning of the experience of caring for critical and dying patients while supporting the development of nursing knowledge for palliative and end-of-life care in emergent settings.

Findings of the study influence nursing policies toward enhancing education of nurses regarding palliative and end-of-life care in emergency settings. These findings can also influence the value of caring-healing environments for critical and dying patients and their families. Policies can focus on practice and education of families particularly about end-of-life care for critical and dying patients.