Nurses' experience with relatives of patients receiving end-of-life-care in nursing homes and at home – a questionnaire based explorative study

Abstract

Aim The aim of this study was to explore any differences between nurses working in nursing home and home‐based care in their experiences regarding relatives' ability to accept the imminence of death and relatives' ability to reach agreement when deciding on behalf of patients unable to consent.

Design An electronic questionnaire‐based cross‐sectional study.

Method An electronically distributed survey to 884 nurses in long‐term care in Norway in May 2014. A total of 399 nurses responded (45%), of which 197 worked in nursing homes and 202 in home‐based care.

Results Nurses in home‐based care, more often than their colleagues in nursing homes, experienced that relatives had difficulties in accepting that patients were dying. Nurses who often felt insecure about whether life extension was in consistency with patients' wishes and nurses who talked most about life‐prolonging medical treatment in communication with relatives more often experienced that relatives being reluctant to accept a poor prognosis and disagreements between relatives in their role as proxy decision makers for the patient.