The experience of intensive caring nurses caring for patients for whom life sustaining treatment is being withdrawn

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe, and to further understand the lived experience of intensive care nurses, who care for patients for whom life sustaining treatment is being withdrawn. It is known that a large percentage of patient deaths that occur in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) follow the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment. Nurses are the primary care givers of patients in the ICU and are directly involved in end-of-life care and the initiation of withdrawal of life sustaining treatment. Interpretive phenomenology served as the methodology by which the researcher explored and interpreted the lived experience of these ICU nurses. Unstructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with six intensive care nurses employed in the ICU of a large tertiary care hospital. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using approaches outlined by Colaizzi (1978) and van Manen (1990). The essence of this experience was described by intensive care nurses as "trying to do the right thing". Three major themes emerged from the data: A Journey -- Creating Comfort Along the Way; Working in Professional Angst and Providing Memories. The findings have given a voice to intensive care nurses in their role of providing care to patients and families during this experience.