Quality of death and its related factors in terminally ill patients, as perceived by nurses.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the quality of death of terminally ill patients in hospitals in Thailand. AIM: To examine the quality of death of terminally ill patients and investigate correlations between the quality of death and the organisational climate; nurses' palliative care knowledge; nurses' palliative care practice; and nurses' perceptions of barriers in providing palliative care. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Data collected among 281 nurses were analysed by descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Spearman's rank correlation. RESULTS: The overall quality of death of terminally ill patients in the hospital was moderate. Organisational climate and nurses' palliative care practice positively correlate with terminally ill patients' quality of death. Nurses' difficulty in providing palliative care negatively correlates with terminally ill patients' quality of death. CONCLUSION: Promoting an organisational climate and enhancing nurses' palliative care practice may improve the quality of death of terminally ill patients in this hospital.

Thai nursing students' experiences of caring for patients at the end of life: a phenomenological study.

AIM: To describe Thai nursing students' experiences of providing end-of-life care (EoLC). METHODS: Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 21 nursing students and were analysed using Van Manen's method. FINDINGS: Eight themes emerged based on Van Manen's four lived worlds: feeling excited and worried when receiving an assigned case; feeling disappointed with the health-care team's provision of psychosocial support for patients at the end-of-life and their families; being in a time of uncertainty; recognising that EoLC is a time for gaining merit; knowing that a peaceful place and privacy are needed for promoting a peaceful death; knowing that the real-life classroom is around the patient's bedside; feeling lonely and needing help and support; and creating relationships with patients and families as a nurse. CONCLUSIONS: To promote nursing students' positive clinical experiences in providing EoLC, enhancing staff's competency and closing the theory-practice gap regarding palliative care are necessary objectives.