title: [Caring for persons at the end of life in a curative care unit: privileges and heartbreaks].
abstract: The objective of this study was to describe the experience of caring for individuals at the end of life by five nurses working in curative care units. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain a better understanding of the meaning nurses give to this experience. The analysis of results, based on Giorgi's phenomenological method (1997), highlighted a central meaning: it is a human experience fraught with paradoxes where the bedside nurse feels both privileged to be accompanying these individuals at the end of their lives and torn between the medical priority given to curative care and the lesser priority given to palliative care. This study offers relevant options for nurse managers wanting to improve these nurses' work environment and the quality of care for individuals at the end of life.
authors.affiliation: l''Hôpital Général Juif, 3755 chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine, Montréal, Québec. mfortin@jgh.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Marie-Laurence
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fortin
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouchard
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004645:Empathy; D005639:Frustration; D006117:Grief; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011792:Quebec; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D013850:Thinking