Background Although palliative and end-of-life care are increasingly integrated into nursing curricula, little attention is paid to how students experience and learn to care for dying or deceased persons and their relatives in emergency care settings. This lack of focus leaves students underprepared to navigate emotionally and ethically complex situations involving death. Aim The aim was to explore nursing students' experiences in learning and providing care for dying or deceased persons and their relatives in emergency care settings. Design A qualitative study using the methodology Interpretive Description. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 18 nursing students were conducted between March 2024 and August 2024. The participants had been in clinical practice and had experience from five different Danish EDs. Results Through interpretive analysis, three key themes were developed: (1) Death is minimized and often concealed from students in the ED. (2) Facing Death: Emotional Impact and the Absence of Support. (3) Caring in the Absence of Guidance and Rituals. Conclusions This study highlights how nursing students encounter death in emergency settings with little or no educational support. The findings reveal a significant gap in nursing education, where care for dying or deceased persons and their relatives remains marginalized despite its clinical relevance. Addressing this gap requires the integration of structured and supportive learning opportunities into nursing curricula, including simulations, supervised practice, and emotional debriefing, to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and emotional resilience needed to provide high-quality care for dying individuals and their bereaved relatives in emergency settings.
Bove et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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