[Death anxiety - amongst nurses in critical care and general wards]

ABSTRACT

Death is a phenomenon even thinking about which can produce anxiety. Death anxiety in staff nurses can be influential on their communication with and quality care delivery for dying patients and also affects nurses' job satisfaction and mental health. The aim of this study was to determine death anxiety in nurses working in critical care and general wards and related factors. This was a cross-sectional study in which 387 nurses [155 nurses working in critical care wards and 232 nurses working in general wards] from a teaching hospital affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences were recruited by census sampling. Demographic information sheet and Templer's Death Anxiety Scale were used to collect data. Then the data were analyzed using Chi-square, T-test and regression. The results showed a statistically significant difference between mean score of death anxiety of nurses working in critical care [8.30 +/- 2.4] and those working in general wards [8.26 +/- 2.1]. Death anxiety was correlated with some variables such as marital status [p=0.046], organizational situation [p=0.001] and the ward which nurses now worked [p=0.02], but it was not significantly correlated with age, sex, shift, care of end stage patients, and partnership in patient resuscitation. Death anxiety affects physical and emotional aspects of nurse's life, thereby affecting process of caring. Results showed that death anxiety was higher in critical care nurses and they faced more dying and death than general ward nurses. So, they need special attention about death anxiety and its causes, and require institutional support to enable them for providing quality care for patients