Nurses and their elderly clients in the last moment of life

초록

Purpose: This micro ethnography in communication aimed to explore the cultureal isloates of nurses' experiences of caring for the dying elderly. Research questions were "what does caring for the dying elderly and their family mean?' and ' what is the cultural components of these experiences?' Methods: The assumptions of communicative ethnography guided this research. For this study, temporality and spatiality were selected from the 10 isolated primary message systems of chronic care settings. Data were collected using iterative interviews between December 2008 and June 2009. Data analysis frame was constituted with the components of time, space, relation, interaction, and context. Results: In a low context of time and space, perticipants had unpleasant wxperiences. They kept a limited interaction with clients. Relation among the participants, elderly clients, family, and health personal was very frail. In a high context, the participants reflected on the meaning of the clients' lives and thier professional caring for the dying elderly. During their caring, the nurses experienced and explored the meaning of lives of their clients, clients' family, and themselves. In the physical domain of caring for the dying elderly, the dimensions of time and space were less important for the nurses. In the psychological domain, the nurses experienced various fear and psychological conflicts while caring for the dying patients. The participants those who overcome these psychological conflicts and fears, found a way into the meaningfulness of caring and life. Their consciousness on time extended to the future of clients and themselves. Their consciousness on space extended to the clients' and families' space. Conclusion: Caring for the dying elderly is a very important experience for nurses and they grow psychologically healthy and mature through the experiences of caring for the dying elderly. Their consciousness on time and space also extends not only toward clients but also towa