Caring for dying patients in acute hospital wards: a review

Abstract

Evidence suggests that most people in Britain now die in hospital, or spend a period of their terminal illness there (1). People in the terminal stage of illness who are cared for in a hospice or at home are in the minority. Nurses working in busy acute hospital wards find that part of their role includes caring for dying patients. Given that the main responsibility of nurses working in the acute setting is to care for sick people receiving active treatment, it was decided to examine the experiences of these nurses when they were caring for terminally ill patients. The effects of the acute ward setting on the dying patient, relatives and friends will also be considered. A hospice has a specialist role in care of the dying. In contrast, a hospital emphasises cure (2). As it is inevitable that some hospitalised patients will die, nurses must be competent to care for them and patients must be confident of the care they will receive. This article will consider some of the problems of caring for the dying in the acute setting, as discussed in the literature, and will recommend improvements in practice.