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End-of-life care in a nursing home: Assistant nurses perspectives
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8912-8101
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Sweden;Linköping University, Sweden.
Ersta Sköndal Bräcke University College, Sweden.
2019 (English)In: Nursing Ethics, ISSN 0969-7330, E-ISSN 1477-0989, Vol. 26, no 6, p. 1721-1733Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Worldwide, older persons lack access to palliative care. In Sweden, many older persons die in nursing homes where care is provided foremost by assistant nurses. Due to a lack of beds, admission is seldom granted until the older persons have complex care needs and are already in a palliative phase when they move in. Objective: To describe assistant nurses perspectives of providing care to older persons at the end of life in a nursing home. Research design: Data were collected in semi-structured individual interviews and analyzed with inductive qualitative content analysis. Participants and research context: Seven assistant nurses from a nursing home in Sweden were randomly selected. Ethical consideration: The research was approved by the local ethics committee. Results: Three main categories emerged; "Death a natural part of life"; "The older persons well-being"; and "Care in the moment of death"; and seven sub-categories. The assistant nurses described themselves as knowing the older persons well enough to provide good end-of-life care. This was achieved by making small-talk while providing daily care. Relying on experience-based knowledge, they strove to provide end-of-life care built upon respect and engagement with the ambition to strengthen older persons dignity, for example, by lowering the tempo of care at the end of life, in spite of organizational restrictions. Discussion: The assistant nurses offered attentive end-of-life care, focusing upon bodily care. The existential needs of the older persons were not foregrounded. Conclusion: To develop their work, and to promote an ethical foundation for such care, assistant nurses might need support and education to be able to offer a care more in line with the aims of palliative care. Furthermore, the organization of care needs to promote, not impede, the realization of this development.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2019. Vol. 26, no 6, p. 1721-1733
Keywords [en]
Assistant nurse; dignity; end-of-life care; ethics; intuitive knowledge; nursing home; older person; palliative care; qualitative content analysis
National Category
Nursing
Research subject
Health and Caring Sciences, Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-115830DOI: 10.1177/0969733018779199ISI: 000484692700012PubMedID: 29950147Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85049770334OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-115830DiVA, id: diva2:1688629
Available from: 2022-08-19 Created: 2022-08-19 Last updated: 2022-11-01Bibliographically approved

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