Korean Nurses’ Attitudes to Good and Bad Death, Life-Sustaining Treatment and Advance Directives

This study was an investigation of which distinctive elements would best describe good and bad death, preferences for life-sustaining treatment, and advance directives. The following elements of a good death were identified by surveying 185 acute-care hospital nurses: comfort, not being a burden to...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Kim, Shinmi (Author) ; Lee, Yunjung (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2003
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2003, Volume: 10, Issue: 6, Pages: 624-637
Further subjects:B nurses’ attitudes
B good death
B life-sustaining treatment
B bad death
B Advance Directives
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This study was an investigation of which distinctive elements would best describe good and bad death, preferences for life-sustaining treatment, and advance directives. The following elements of a good death were identified by surveying 185 acute-care hospital nurses: comfort, not being a burden to the family, a good relationship with family members, a readiness to die, and a belief in perpetuity. Comfort was regarded as the most important. Distinctive elements of a bad death were: persistent vegetative state, sudden death, pain and agony, dying alone, and being a burden to the family. Of the 185 respondents, 90.8% answered that they did not intend to receive life-sustaining treatment if they suffered from a terminal illness without any chance of recovery; 77.8% revealed positive attitudes toward advance directives. Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents stated that they were willing to discuss their own death and dying; the perception of such discussions differed according to the medical condition (p = 0.001). The elements of a bad death differed significantly depending on the disease state (p = 0.003) and on economic status (p = 0.023).
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1191/0969733003ne652oa