Abstract
Aim. This paper reports a study exploring district nurses’ experiences of providingpalliative care for patients with cancer and their families.Background. There is an increasing demand for palliative care in the community, asmany patients wish to die at home. District nurses are central to providing palliativecare in the community, but there is a dearth of literature on district nurses’experiences in palliative care.Method. A Husserlian phenomenological approach was adopted with a purposivesample of 25 female district nurses. Data were collected using unstructured, taperecordedinterviews and analysed using Colaizzi’s seven stages of data analysis.Findings. Four themes were identified: the communication web; the family as anelement of care; challenges for the district nurse in symptom management and thepersonal cost of caring.Conclusions. District nurses’ experiences of providing palliative care to family unitswas challenging but rewarding. The emotive nature of the experience cannot beunder-estimated, as many district nurses were touched by the varying situations.Whilst acknowledging the need to maintain an integrated approach to care, districtnurses should be identified as the key workers in the complex situation of palliativecare.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 372-380 |
| Journal | Journal of Advanced Nursing |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 12 Apr 2005 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published online - 12 Apr 2005 |
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Keywords
- district nursing
- palliative care
- Husserlian phenomenology
- end-of-life
- care
- cancer nursing
