End-of-life Care in the Intesive Care Unit and Nursing Roles in Communicating with Families

INTRODUCTION: Professionals in Intensive Care Units face death, shifting their role from therapists to caregivers in end-of-life management. The nursing attitude and response to death has been shown to affect the quality of palliative care and end-of-life services that are interrelated services. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this research was to evaluate the professional attitude of nurses towards the care of the families of critically ill patients in the ICU, leading to the emergence of specific attitudes, relating them to their demographic and professional characteristics, with the aim of drawing conclusions for the improvement of quality in end-of-life care. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sample of the study was 81 nurses from a large tertiary hospital. Participants completed the “Nurse Activities for Communicating with Families” (NACF) questionnaire. The questions are about ways in which nurses can help the patient’s family during the patient’s stay in the ICU. RESULTS: The results revealed that the nurses took actions related to the information and psychological support of the patient’s family. On the contrary, they did not focus on the spiritual / religious needs of the patient and the needs of the family based on their cultural background. CONCLUSIONS: The professional treatment of staff is characterized by compassion and empathy, but it is necessary to train them on important issues related to diversity, including the religious, spiritual values and beliefs of patients and their relatives.