The Impact of Providing End-of-Life Care on Nurses: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: The main goal of Palliative Care is to increase the quality of life of the patients with end of life illnesses and their families through anticipating suffering and providing it’s relief. To provide this kind of care it’s necessary a great deal of dedication which can be extremely stressful. This systematic review aims to discover the impact of providing end of life care on nurses.

Methods: A search in 10 databases was used, starting with the research question “What is the perception of nurses in providing palliative care?”, using the PICO method. Given the low number of articles, the research question was changed to “What is the impact of providing palliative / end-of-life care to the nurses? ”. 7 articles were obtained for analysis.

Results: It appears that there is a great dichotomy of feelings. In addition, the lack of knowledge/training was an obstacle to providing good care. The Emergency Department is not a good environment for providing end-of-life care. Considering the impact f end of life care it was reported the need to create coping mechanisms and provide emotional support.

Conclusion: Providing end-of-life care has a major impact on nurses due to all the emotional overload that comes from caring for the terminally ill and their family as well as all the emotions that are necessary to manage during the practice of end of life care.