The Importance of Caring for Brain Death Patients Candidate for Organ Donation: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background & Aims: Caring for patients with the diagnosis of brain death is one of the heaviest duties for nurses. The importance of organ donation is one of the biggest challenges of nursing in the intensive care unit. This qualitative research aimed to investigate the experience of nurses in care for brain death patients. Materials & Methods: The study was qualitative research using a content analysis method. Purposive sampling started with in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 participants and continued until the data saturation stage. Data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis. Results: Qualitative analysis of data content led to the extraction of themes reflecting the research of nurses’ experiences in the care of the brain dead patients and including “organ donation; a distinct care element” and “’facing increased tensions and conflicts.” Finally, the main themes of “Care stress resonance following a distinct donation situation; a distinct care element” were abstracted. Conclusion: Due to the importance of maintaining the health of donation organs, nurses’ experiences have shown that they face many challenges while caring for brain death patients. But the issue of organ donation is one of the significant issues affecting the care of organ donors, so managers can take practical proceedings by identifying nurses’ challenges in this field to improve the quality of care for these patients.