Attitudes and Experiences of Nursing Students Towards Care of Dying Patient

Introduction: Nursing Students are frequently involved in end-of-life-care of dying patients. However, their attitudes and experiences as well as the impact of this lived experience on themselves, are not fully elucidated. Purpose: This study aimed to review the attitudes and experiences of nursing students towards end-of-life care in the context of their clinical practice and to elucidate the consequences of these experiences on themselves. Material and Method: A literature search was performed in PubMed and Scopus databases (December 2019) without any time limits, using the following key words: Nurse Student, attitudes, emotion, reaction, feeling, dying patient, end-of-life-patient. Inclusion criteria were the articles’ written language in Greek and English. Forty six studies were found through the aforementioned search, of which 9 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Results: In the majority of studies it was shown that nursing students avoided emotional engagement with patients at the end of their lives even if they had had a positive attitude toward palliative care. In fact, many students reported feeling unprepared, with predominant emotions such as anxiety and fear. However, it seems that such feelings were reduced or eliminated after their training in palliative care. Conclusions: Undergraduate Nursing students who provide care to patients with incurable diseases, experience intense emotions at the loss of the patient and need to be provided with special training during their studies. Educating students in end-of-live care at the undergraduate level is necessary in order to be prepared to handle these difficulties.

Category: Volume 60, N 4
Hits: 838 Hits
Created Date: 09-03-2022
Authors: Dimitra Sfyri , Georgia Giallourou , Margarita Giannakopoulou