Sammanfattning
Background: An increasing number of deaths take place in nursing homes. This puts a heavy burden of service delivery on nursing homes as an arena for the provision of end-of-life care and on the healthcare personnel who provide the service. We therefore need to increase our knowledge of how nurses perceive the care provided for dying patients in nursing homes.
Objective: The study’s objective is to describe the nurses’ experience of dying patients in nursing homes. The research questions explore what is required to provide optimal treatment and care at the end of life.
Method: Data were generated by conducting three focus group interviews with a total of twelve nurses. Qualitative content analysis was our chosen methodology.
Results: The nurses aim to carry out their profession to ensure that patients receive optimal symptomatic relief. They also need to look after the patients’ relatives. The nurses find that the complexity of the care and treatment provided for dying patients in nursing homes calls for more of everything. In order to meet the dying patients’ need for alleviating treatment and care, considerable knowledge is required, as well as special skills and attitudes. The findings show that nurses are often “left to deal with everything on their own” because the nursing home has a low staffing ratio and the personnel have inadequate nursing skills. Nurses are expected to be proficient clinicians, to show leadership and provide advice and guidance for relatives and co-workers.
Conclusion: According to the nurses, end-of life care in nursing homes requires “more of everything”; meanwhile, they feel they are “left to deal with everything on their own”. The training of co-workers needs to take priority because the number of nursing staff is low.