Introduction. Nurses in their work more often than other professional groups have contact with human death. Nowadays, death is the source of many negative emotions that can cause increased exposure to burnout. Therefore, it is extremely important for nursing staff to have an appropriate approach to dying patients, what will allow them to provide optimal care for the patient at the end of his life.
Aim. Assessment of attitudes of nursing staff towards the death and dying of the patient.
Material and methods. The study was conducted using the diagnostic survey method with the use of the original questionnaire, which consisted of 40 questions including 26 questions of single choice, 4 questions of multiple choice and 10 questions with characteristics. The material for the study was collected in March and April 2018, the opinion of 594 registered nurses (581 women, 13 man) was examined in departments where nursing staff have frequent contact with dying patients. The analysis was carried out using the SPSS program.
Results. The most often nursing staff considers death as a natural phenomenon that every human being must meet (52.2%). Most of the nurses approach emotionally (42.3%) to death of patient. The most frequent emotions accompanying members of nursing teams during a patient’s death are compassion (69.4%) and sadness (67.8%). The nursing staff considers that the most ethical treatment for a dying patient is to give him decent conditions of dying (98%). Nurses mainly consider persistent therapy (79.6%) as prolonging suffering.
Conclusions. Nurses in contact with a dying patient most often feel compassion and sadness. The most ethical treatment of a dying patient according to nursing staff is to provide him with decent conditions for dying.
