Intensive Care Nurses Attitude towards Death

Attitude towards death is one of the most important factors affecting the ethics of care of health professionals. Because of their job nature, nurses are the first group to spend the most time with sick and overweight patients. The aim of this study was to determine the attitude of nurses in intensive care units to death.

In this descriptive-cross sectional study in 2018, all nurses working in ICUs in Golestan University of Medical Sciences were studied in a census (156 subjects). The Wong’s et al questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software 16 and descriptive and analytic tests (linear regression).

77.6% (121 persons) were female, 92.3% (144 persons) with a bachelor's degree and mean age 32.33±7.08, and 4.50±4.06 years in the intensive care unit. The mean and standard deviation of total attitude toward death (150.89±23.59) were in the areas of fear of death (33.64±7.47), avoidance of death (21.22±6.57), neutral acceptance (27.41±3.54), active admission (49.48±9.26) and admission with inertia (19.13±6.76). Ethical Considerations: After expressing the goals of the study, the informed consent of the participants and the confidentiality of the information were assured to them.

The findings indicate that the nurses had a neutral or active attitude towards death as it seems that nurses in intensive care units often encounter dying patients and their families during their clinical work. In forming such a positive attitude, death has not been ineffective.