title: Lived experience of caring for dying patients in emergency room.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dying often occurs in hospitals and frequently in emergency rooms. Understanding caring for critical and dying patients is necessary for quality nursing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study described the meaning of nurses' lived experience of caring for critical and dying patients in the emergency rooms.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in three emergency rooms of tertiary hospitals in southern Thailand. Twelve nurses met the inclusion criteria: nurses working in emergency room for at least 2 years, and experienced caring for critical and dying patients in an emergency department. Data were collected using in-depth individual interviews. Data transcription and analysis used van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Trustworthiness was established following Lincoln and Guba's criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experiences of caring for critical and dying patients revealed four thematic categories: defying death; no time for palliative care; lacking support for family; and privacy for peaceful deaths. These thematic categories reflected van Manen's four lived worlds of body, time, relations and space.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study described the meaning of the experience of caring for critical and dying patients while supporting the development of nursing knowledge for palliative and end-of-life care in emergent settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings of the study influence nursing policies toward enhancing education of nurses regarding palliative and end-of-life care in emergency settings. These findings can also influence the value of caring-healing environments for critical and dying patients and their families. Policies can focus on practice and education of families particularly about end-of-life care for critical and dying patients.
authors.affiliation: Medical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Waraporn
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kongsuwan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Thammasat University, Thailand.
authors.forename: Yaowarat
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matchim
authors.affiliation: Medical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Kittikorn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nilmanat
authors.affiliation: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.|Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Rozzano C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Locsin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanioka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasuhara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*; D013785:Thailand
keywords: Caring; Death; Dying; Emergency Room; Nursing; Palliative Care; Phenomenology