Reactions to Patient Death

In Brief A qualitative study using phenomenological descriptive design was conducted to explore critical care nurses’ experiences with patient death. Several themes emerged as a result of this study: coping, personal distress, emotional disconnect, and inevitable death. Understanding critical care nurses’ reactions to patient death may help to improve the care provided to critically ill dying patients and their families and to meet the needs of the nurses who care for them. This qualitative study using a phenomenological descriptive design was conducted to explore critical care nurses’ experience with patient death. The study identified severe themes that will be presented in the article.