Korean J Hosp Palliat Care.  2019 Jun;22(2):87-99. 10.0000/kjhpc.2019.22.2.87.

Difficulties in End-of-Life Care and Educational Needs of Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study

• Kim HS
• Choi EK
• Kim TH
• Yun HY
• Kim EJ
• Hong JJ
• Hong JA
• Kim GA
• Kim SH

• KMID: 2450253
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjhpc.2019.22.2.87

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study aimed to identify the difficulties with end-of-life care (EOLC) experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses and to investigate their educational needs for EOLC.
METHODS
This study aimed to identify the difficulties with end-of-life care (EOLC) experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses and to investigate their educational needs for EOLC.
RESULTS
The mean score on the difficulty of EOLC was 3.41 out of 5. The education needs derived from the qualitative analysis was categorized into four themes: 1) guidelines on professional EOLC, 2) spiritual care, 3) a program to take care of feelings of patients, families and nurses, and 4) activities to think about death.
CONCLUSION
This study confirmed that ICU nurses were experiencing an extreme difficulty in providing EOLC. In addition, a qualitative analysis confirmed that they needed an EOL nursing program. To mitigate the difficulties experienced by nurses involved in EOLC, there is an urgent need to develop an education program for EOLC tailored to nurses' needs.

Keyword

Intensive care units; Nurses; Terminal care; Needs assessment

MeSH Terms

Critical Care*
Education
Humans
Intensive Care Units*
Methods*
Needs Assessment
Nursing
Terminal Care