The Practical Wisdom from the Transformation of the Palliative Nurses

Tuesday, 23 July 2013: 1:50 PM

Ying-Chun Liu, MSN, RN
School of Nursing, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Hsien-Hsien Chiang, MSN, RN
School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to be aware of the ethical responsibility towards their end-of-life patients.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to know the wisdom from this study for care-giving with compassion attitudes.

Purpose:  The purpose of this study is using both perspectives including “practical wisdom”and “face the other” to understand the experiences of palliative nurses when they care for they dying patients.

Methods:  The methodological approach in this qualitative study is using interpretive hermeneutic approach. A purposive sample was taking from each of  seven palliative nurses who worked in hospice settings including palliative care unit,and home-base hospice. Data were collected through in-depth interviews between the participants and the researcher. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results:

Three wisdom emerged from those nurses : (1)Being aware of the harm in caring for; (2) understanding limitations in oneself; (3) tuning in to the patients.

 Conclusion:

Each moment in dying could be a chance to transform and grow spiritually for both dying patients and nurses. Palliative care can inspire nurses to be aware of the ethical responsibility towards their patients, generate the wisdom for care-giving with compassion attitudes. These findings suggest using the concept of upractical wisdomvand uface the otherv for clinical education and basic nursing education, It will enrich the nursing quality and deepen the meaning of palliative care.