Death in the hospital and its meaning for nurses and doctors

Abstract

Nowadays, death has been slowly excluded from the social and cultural scope and, particularly, from the background and practice of health professionals, especially Nurses and Doctors. This paper aimed at identifying the meaning of these professionals concerning the situation in which the process of dying in the hospital is materialized. Therefore, considering the discourse content and its analysis as a practice of meaning production, it categorized. Therefore, considering the discourse content and its analysis as a practice of meaning production, it categorized and interpreted a group of 34 semi-structured interviews with Nurses (17) and Doctors (17). Results showed that: (a) university education excludes the approach of the psychosocial aspects of death; (b) the relationship with the dying patient’s family is understood as involvement or distancing and (c) the relationship with the patient is understood as acceptance, defense or affective mobilization. We hope that this work will somehow contribute to the humanization while experiencing death in hospitals.