Is the classroom experience enough? Nurses’ feelings about their death and dying education

Abstract

Previous research indicates that nurses feel they have not had adequate training to prepare them for caring for a dying patient and their family. As the demand for nurses continues to grow, and the population continues to age, caring for dying patients will become a more significant stressor. The stress of the situation, combined with the lack of adequate training contributes to nurse burnout during a time when retaining nurses is vital to our medical care system. Therefore, this study is an effort to learn not only how nurses feel about their end-of-life training, but also to explore what they would change. Results indicate that nurses feel they have inadequate training about death and dying and offer two suggestions for training: incorporating experience and incorporating communication training.