Unexpected deaths in medical wards during night shifts: a narrative analysis of nursing experiences

Journal of Clinical Nursing
Alvisa PaleseDiana Cerne

Abstract

To explore nurses' narratives of unexpected patient deaths during nightshifts. Despite the importance of patient care and safety during the night, little attention has been paid to this issue in scientific literature. Very few studies have investigated the outcome of night-time nursing care in patients, and there is a distinct paucity of knowledge regarding the experiences of nurses who discover a patient who has died unexpectedly during a night shift. A qualitative study design using semi-structured interviews, interpreted by a narrative inquiry methodology, was adopted. A purposeful sample of 15 nurses working in Italian medical wards who had found a patient who had died unexpectedly during a night shift, and who had given their informed consent were interviewed in the period from 2009-2011. An inductive content analysis of the narrated experiences was performed. A patient's unexpected death during a night shift is something that nurses fear, and when it occurs, the experience is remembered as a nightmare. From the narratives of the participant nurses, five categories described what happened at night when a patient who had died unexpectedly was discovered: (1) the night started by nurses selecting patients needing intensive s...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 7, 2017·Journal of Nursing Scholarship : an Official Publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing·Cynthia Thornton Bacon
Jul 15, 2016·British Journal of Nursing : BJN·James WaldieStephen Tee
Sep 1, 2017·Nursing Administration Quarterly·Cynthia Thornton Bacon

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