A Meaning of Death through Emotional Expression about Death after Nursing and Medical Students' End-of-Life Care Practice

Jo, Kae Hwa

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to understand the meaning of death experienced by medical and nursing students through end-of-life care practice.
METHODS
Data were collected by in-depth interviews with twelve (six nursing and six medical) students. Conventional qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data.
RESULTS
This findings were analyzed in three areas: 'feeling from the word of death', 'color association of death', and 'relation between life and death'. Results were three major themes and sixteen categories from the analysis. Three major themes include 'reality of uncertain death', 'have to leave, and 'new perception about death'. Sixteen categories include 'being well', 'fear', 'unknown', 'boundless', 'being with', 'out of sight', 'new start', 'go back to', 'place going by itself', 'place to meet with', 'being transformed', 'a sense of futility', 'the same point', 'a different point', 'continuous line', and 'a crossroad'.
CONCLUSION
The findings suggest a number of themes that nursing and medical students reported about the end of life experiences that could be explored as a way of improving end of life care.