“You’ll get used to it”: A lived experience of Filipino nurses in dealing with death and dying patient

Abstract

Giving care to a dying patient and support to their families is a tough and stressful task for nurses. And dealing with patient death is viewed by nurses as one of the most demanding and challenging experiences in the clinical setting. For nurses to deal with this experience, it is necessary for them to have adequate knowledge, skills, and a precise coping mechanism to handle the patient. Moreover, nurses have different strategies on how they can able to cope up with that doleful incident. A phenomenological study was used to explore the nurses’ experience in dealing with a dying patient. Six nurses were purposively selected who underwent an in-depth interview using a voice recorder and a semi-structured interview guide. The researchers identified the significant statements and verbalizations of each participant by transcribing and sorting interviews (cool analysis), categorized significant statements as themes (warm analysis), and Colaizzi's method to further ensure that the researchers’ understanding about the lived experience of Filipino nurses is accurate, and deliberately discussed in this study. The participants thoroughly explained their different stories, experiences, and struggles in dealing with death and dying patients. Five (5) themes were formulated in characterizing the lived experiences of Filipino nurses: Acceptance, Borderline, Competency, Diverting, and Equal care. This study provides an understanding of their lived experiences.