A morte no contexto hospitalar : a percepção dos profissionais de enfermagem.

Abstract

Addressing death has been a difficult task for the human being since it is conceived from different dimensions. Death is currently one of the issues that causes controversy since it is not often understood developing fear and anxiety. The way death is conceived regards the way each person faces it and its influence on the human being. Some studies show that death is increasing in health centers and it is not always possible to avoid it. Therefore, nursing professionals face it almost every day in their working process and, on several occasions, they are not prepared to deal with it. It is their role to care for both patients, who are in the process of death, and family, who accompanies them. Such precautions are designed to provide comfort and life quality so that patients can die in a more humanized way. The problem of the research consists of understanding how nursing professionals are prepared to deal with the topic and what are the consequences along the work course in the hospital. Objectives searched to determine in which place death is at the hospital in the vision of Oncology nursing professionals; understand feelings and experiences of Oncology nursing professionals facing death, and investigate how these professionals conceive patients’ relatives on such occasions. Sixteen nurses were interviewed - four from chemotherapy, one from radiation therapy, two from ambulatory, three from Pinheiros clinic, three from Jacarandá clinic, and three from the Intensive Care Unit. A semi-structured interview was used as the research instrument.