Sharing living and dying: A balancing act between vulnerability and a sense of security. Enrolled nurses' experiences of working in the sitting service for dying patients at home.

OBJECTIVE

To describe enrolled nurses' (ENs') experiences of working in a sitting service for dying patients at home (SSH).

METHOD

The ENs who participated in this study had permanent jobs in community care/ primary care, but were also employed part time in a special home-sitting service organization in a municipality in the south of Sweden. Data were collected by four focus group interviews with 17 enrolled nurses. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Care-giving in SSH was a balancing act between a sense of security and a feeling of vulnerability. Feeling secure and valued and that one is developing both professionally and personally, stemmed from working in partnership, whereas a feeling of vulnerability was associated with managing closeness and distance, being a mediator, having responsibility and feeling guilty, feeling hindered from doing good, facing loneliness, and affecting private lives.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

SSH makes it possible for people who are terminally ill to remain at home until they die. If the SSH organization were not an option for dying patients and their families, the pressure on the healthcare would be dramatically increased.