Nursing Care of the Terminal Patient

Abstract

This article reports on a study of fifty-one hospitalized dying patients who were interviewed by a nurse to determine: (1) if the dying patient would discuss his diagnosis, death, or dying if given the opportunity; and (2) what implications for nursing action the information obtained during these interviews would have. Forty-seven of the 51 patients interviewed did openly discuss or allude to these topics and verbatim accounts of some conversations are given. The major nursing implications discussed include: assignment of personnel; purposeful planning of conversation and listening time; attention-getting and control mechanisms used by patients; misinterpretation of information by patients; patient loneliness and hope; and working with families. Specific aspects of each of these topics are discussed with special emphasis on nursing application. A significant factor of this study is that it was designed and conducted by nurses, for nurses, and it presents generalized concepts that are applicable to more than one patient or one patient care setting.