FEELINGS EXPERIENCED BY PROFESSIONAL NURSES WHEN FACING PATIENTS’ DYING PROCESS OR DEATH

Abstract

The denial of human finitude in today’s Western society is a reflection of a socio-cultural and historical construction. The cultural influence and the idea of a curative nursing service make the grieving process difficult when facing the death of a patient, causing nurses to experience feelings of failure, powerlessness and incompetence. Once understanding the cure as the only therapeutic option, many of THESE professionals develop psychological distress, among other uncomfortable feelings, which may escalate into a chronic emotional distress, the Burnout Syndrome. This study aims at analyzing the feelings experienced by nurses during the patient’s dying process or death. It is an integrative review research of the exploratory kind. The analyzed articles are indexed in Sciello’s, Lilacs’ and Bireme’s databases. The study period covers the years from 2001 through 2011. This study’s main findings allowed researchers to establish an analysis about scientific production in six categories: death denial and feelings related to life termination, discomfort during body preparation, a list of technological breakthroughs in therapeutic obstination, patient’s uncontrollable pain, the unpreparedness of nurses when facing death and psychological distress. It was concluded that nurses’ unpreparedness reflects a poor care service that produces inhumane situations, detrimental to human treatment at the end of life, which reveals to be a health care professional carelessness.