Feelings and Difficulties Experienced by Nursing Students in Coping with Death and the Process of Dying

Abstract

Objective: Identify the difficulties nursing students encounter in coping with death and the process of dying in inpatient care. Method: An integrative literature review was conducted of the LILACS, MEDLINE and BDEnf databases during June 2014, covering the period from 2001 to 2014. The keywords used were "death", "students" and "nursing". Results: In all, 293 articles were found and 10 were selected. Several difficulties were identified; namely, managing finitude; relations between the student and the family; the links established between the student and the patient; and the feelings student nurses experience when caring for terminally ill patients. Conclusion: Issues that deal with death should be encouraged and have more emphasis in curricula for undergraduate programs in the field of health care. This can bring about positive thinking in the interest of building "professionals" who are committed to critical, thoughtful and understanding care for terminally ill patients who are experiencing this process, and for their families.