IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v26y2017i5-6p690-697.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Navigating communication with families during withdrawal of life‐sustaining treatment in intensive care: a qualitative descriptive study in Australia and New Zealand

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa J Bloomer
  • Ruth Endacott
  • Kristen Ranse
  • Maureen A Coombs

Abstract

Aims and objectives To explore how nurses navigate communication with families during withdrawal of life‐sustaining treatment in intensive care. Background Death in the intensive care unit is seldom unexpected and often happens following the withdrawal of life‐sustaining treatment. A family‐centred approach to care relies on the development of a therapeutic relationship and understanding of what is happening to the patient. Whilst previous research has focused on the transition from cure to palliation and the nurse's role in supporting families, less is known about how nurses navigate communication with families during treatment withdrawal. Design A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Semi‐structured focus groups were conducted with adult critical care nurses from four intensive care units, two in Australia and two in New Zealand. Results Twenty‐one nurses participated in the study. Inductive content analysis revealed five key themes relating to how nurses navigate family communication: (1) establishing the WHO; (2) working out HOW; (3) judging WHEN; (4) assessing the WHAT; and (5) WHERE these skills were learnt. Conclusions Navigating an approach to family communication during treatment withdrawal is a complex and multifaceted nursing activity that is known to contribute to family satisfaction with care. There is need for support and ongoing education opportunities that develop the art of communication in this frequently encountered aspect of end‐of‐life care. Relevance to clinical practice How nurses navigate communication with families during treatment withdrawal is just as important as what is communicated. Nurses need access to supports and education opportunities in order to be able to perform this vital role.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa J Bloomer & Ruth Endacott & Kristen Ranse & Maureen A Coombs, 2017. "Navigating communication with families during withdrawal of life‐sustaining treatment in intensive care: a qualitative descriptive study in Australia and New Zealand," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(5-6), pages 690-697, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:5-6:p:690-697
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.13585
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13585
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.13585?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nikolaos Efstathiou & Wendy Walker, 2014. "Intensive care nurses' experiences of providing end‐of‐life care after treatment withdrawal: a qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(21-22), pages 3188-3196, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abbas Al Mutair & Abdulaziz Al Shaer & Fay Al Ghamdi & Arwa Al Ghamdi, 2020. "The Experiences of Muslim Family Members of Critically Ill Patients During End-of-Life Care in Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 29(6), pages 375-381, July.
    2. Hsiao-Ting Chang & Ming-Hwai Lin & Chun-Ku Chen & Tzeng-Ji Chen & Shinn-Jang Hwang, 2020. "Nurses’ Experiences and Factors Related to Their Attitudes Regarding Discussions with Patients and Family Members about Do-Not-Resuscitate Decisions and Life-Sustaining Treatment Withdrawal: A Hospita," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:5-6:p:690-697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.