The experiences of emergency nurses in providing end-of-life care to patients in the emergency department.

Abstract

Managing death in the emergency department is a challenge. Emergency nurses are expected to provide care to numerous patient groups in an often fast-paced, life-saving environment. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of emergency nurses in providing end-of-life care, which is the care delivered to a patient during the time directly preceding death. Data were collected from 25 emergency nurses during three focus group interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the qualitative techniques of grounded theory. Ten categories emerged from the data that described a social process for managing death in the emergency department. The categories were linked via the core category labelled 'dying in the emergency department is not ideal', which described how the emergency department was an inappropriate place for death to occur. To help manage the influence of the environment on end-of-life care, nurses reported strategies that included moving dying patients out of the emergency department and providing the best care that they could. The results of this study highlight nurses' belief that the emergency department was not an appropriate place for death to occur. Despite being frequently exposed to death and dying, the actions and attitudes of emergency nurses implied the need or desire to avoid death in the emergency department.