title: The intimacy of dying: a personal reflection.
abstract: Nurses are often involved in patient care at the patient's end of life. The author describes how a nurse's actions can make a positive difference in one person's life, and in one person's death. Using all of the skills and gifts that nurses have to preserve life is a privilege and a challenge; using all of the skills and gifts nurses have to provide a respectful, dignified, peaceful, and even intimate death, is an equal privilege and challenge.
authors.affiliation: Saint Mary's Medical Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. aifaas@chorus.net
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Faas
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*