The Supportive Role of the Staff Nurse in the Hospital Palliative Care Situation

Abstract

The supportive comforting role of the nurse is complex. Comprehensive supportive role behaviours need to be described for nurses in the hospital setting in order to identify actual role competencies, enhance the definition of professional practice, and evaluate clinical competence. As a first step in definition of this supportive role, an exploratory study was conducted with five registered nurses on a four bed palliative primary nursing unit in a hospital setting. Their supportive role behaviours were elicited in order to answer the following research question: What supportive nursing interventions are identified and described by staff nurses to promote physical, psychological, and spiritual comfort for palliative care patients? A model of supportive nursing care in the palliative care setting was generated from study findings and presented for testing through further research.