Emergency Nurses' Perception of Death and Terminal Care Attitude

This study is a descriptive survey to investigate emergency nurses’ perception of death and terminal care attitude and the relation between the two factors and to provide basic information for developing guidelines for terminal care in the emergency room. For these purposes, we surveyed 127 emergency nurses working at the emergency rooms of general hospitals with 200 or more beds in Gyeonggi‐do and having 3 months’ or longer experience, and the survey period was from March 1 to April 7, 2011. The survey used a questionnaire with 23 questions developed by Kim Bun‐han, Kim Hong‐gyu and Tak Yeong‐ran (1997) and revised and supplemented by the present researcher for the purposes of this study, and another questionnaire with 16 questions based on the Attitudes toward Nursing Care of the Dying Scale developed by Frommelt (1991), used by Cho Hye‐jin (2004), and revised and supplemented by the present researcher for the purposes of this study. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 17.0. 1. The mean score of the nurses’ perception of death was 3.61±0.35 out of 5, and the mean score of their terminal care attitude was 2.90±0.31 out of 4. 2. The nurses’ perception of death and their terminal care attitude were in a statistically significant correlation with each other (r=.471, p<.001). 3. As to difference in the perception of death according to the nurses’ general characteristics, the perception of death was most positive in nurses with 5 years’ or longer clinical experience (F=3.53, p=.032). In addition, the perception of death was statistically significantly different according to emergency room experience. That is, the perception of death was most positive in nurses with 5 years’ or longer emergency room experience (F=5.37, p=.006). 4. As to difference in terminal care attitude according to the nurses’ general characteristics, terminal care attitude was most positive in nurses with less than 2 years’ clinical experience (F=3.62, p=.030). In addition, terminal care attitude was statistically significantly different according to emergency room experience. That is, terminal care attitude was most positive in nurses with less than 2 years’ emergency room experience (F=4.05, p=.020). Moreover, terminal care attitude was statistically significantly different according to job satisfaction. That is, terminal care attitude was most positive in nurses satisfied with their job (F=5.73, p=.004). In conclusion, emergency nurses surveyed in this study showed relatively positive perception of death and terminal care attitude, and their perception of death and terminal care attitude was in a statistically significant correlation with each other. In addition, among their general characteristics, clinical experience and emergency room experience had a significant effect on their perception of death, and clinical experience, emergency room experience and job satisfaction had a significant effect on their terminal care attitude.

Author dc:creator

• 조, 영자

Contributors dc:contributor

• 유, 문숙
• 대학원 간호학과
• 200924186

• 응급실간호사
• 죽음
• 임종간호태도
• Emergency nurse
• perception of death
• terminal care attitude

Language dc:language

ko

Identifier

http://dcoll.ajou.ac.kr:9080/dcollection/jsp/common/DcLoOrgPer.jsp?sItemId=000000012060
000000012060

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.ajou.ac.kr:201003/4424