Dying Care Nursing Intervention in the Institutional Care of End-of-Life Patients

PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of the Nursing Intervention Classification Dying Care activities performed by nurses with end-of-life (EOL) patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive study using a structured questionnaire to determine the frequencies of Dying Care activities performed by 201 Czech nurses. FINDINGS: Nurses reported more frequent use of activities focused on the physical comfort of EOL patients. Significant relationships were found between frequencies in some activities and the nurses' education level, length of work experience, and the department type. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses reported infrequent use of communication activities with patients and relatives, which is related to the length of practice. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: It is necessary to focus on communication and psychosocial needs of EOL patients in both pregradual and lifelong nursing education.