The power of consoling presence - hospice nurses' lived experience with spiritual and existential care for the dying.

Kirsten A Tornøe,Kari Kvigne,Venke Sørlie,Lars J Danbolt

doi:10.1186/1472-6955-13-25

Abstract

BackgroundBeing with dying people is an integral part of nursing, yet many nurses feel unprepared to accompany people through the process of dying, reporting a lack of skills in psychosocial and spiritual care, resulting in high levels of moral distress, grief and burnout. The aim of this study is to describe the meaning of hospice nurses’ lived experience with alleviating dying patients’ spiritual and existential suffering.MethodsThis is a qualitative study.Hospice nurses were interviewed individually and asked to narrate about their experiences with giving spiritual and existential care to terminally ill hospice patients. Data analysis was conducted using phenomenological hermeneutical method.ResultsThe key spiritual and existential care themes identified, were sensing existential and spiritual distress, tuning inn and opening up, sensing the atmosphere in the room, being moved and touched, and consoling through silence, conversation and religious consolation.ConclusionsConsoling existential and spiritual distress is a deeply personal and relational practice. Nurses have a potential to alleviate existential and spiritual suffering through consoling presence. By connecting deeply with patients and their families, nurses have the possibility to affirm the patients’ strength and facilitate their courage to live a meaningful life and die a dignified death.

Highlights

Being with dying people is an integral part of nursing, yet many nurses feel unprepared to accompany people through the process of dying, reporting a lack of skills in psychosocial and spiritual care, resulting in high levels of moral distress, grief and burnout
Many healthcare professionals report a lack of skills in psychosocial and spiritual care of dying people [9,10,11,12,13] resulting in high levels of moral distress, grief and burnout [13]
Aim The aim of this study is to describe the meaning of hospice nurses’ lived experience with alleviating dying patients’ spiritual and existential suffering

Summary

Introduction

Being with dying people is an integral part of nursing, yet many nurses feel unprepared to accompany people through the process of dying, reporting a lack of skills in psychosocial and spiritual care, resulting in high levels of moral distress, grief and burnout. The aim of this study is to describe the meaning of hospice nurses’ lived experience with alleviating dying patients’ spiritual and existential suffering. Being with dying people is an integral part of nursing, yet many nurses feel unprepared to accompany people through the process of dying [1]. Many healthcare professionals report a lack of skills in psychosocial and spiritual care of dying people [9,10,11,12,13] resulting in high levels of moral distress, grief and burnout [13]. Halifax [6] points out that we need to explore ways of being with the dying that can serve both the care giver and the dying person practically and spiritually

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion