Seattle University, College of Nursing, 901 12(th) Ave., Seattle, WA 98122, United States.
University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, 845 S. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
Appl Nurs Res. 2019 Dec;50:151204. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2019.151204. Epub 2019 Oct 21.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses in Korea often experience challenges in providing care for dying infants and their families. However, there is limited understanding about what contributes to the challenges related to end-of-life care.
To describe NICU nurses' perceived roles and challenges faced while providing end-of-life care in South Korea.
A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 20 NICU nurses in South Korea using semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited from two NICUs in Seoul, where infant mortality is the highest in South Korea. Transcribed interviews were coded by two research personnel, and subsequently, a developed coding book was translated by three research personnel. The codes developed were categorized and peer-reviewed to develop themes using conventional content analysis.
Nurses' roles during end-of-life care were grouped into four categories: providing information and support, enhancing attachment between the parents and infants, providing direct care to the infant, and completing documentation. Nurses' perceived challenges during end-of-life care included providing end-of-life care without adequate experience and knowledge, environmental constraints on end-of-life care, and conflicted situations during end-of-life care.
Although the nurses provided the best care they could, their end-of-life care practice was hindered for various reasons. To enhance NICU nurses' ability to provide and make them more capable of providing high quality EOL care, hospitals need to support nurse education and improve staffing level, and create in NICUs an environment that is favorable for providing EOL care.
韩国新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）护士在为临终婴儿及其家属提供护理时经常面临挑战。然而，对于导致临终关怀挑战的因素，人们的了解有限。
描述韩国 NICU 护士在提供临终关怀时所感知到的角色和面临的挑战。
采用定性描述性研究方法，在韩国首尔的两家新生儿重症监护病房招募了 20 名 NICU 护士进行半结构式访谈。韩国婴儿死亡率最高的首尔两家新生儿重症监护病房招募了参与者。两名研究人员对转录的访谈进行编码，随后由三名研究人员翻译制定的编码手册。开发的代码进行分类，并使用常规内容分析对其进行同行评审以形成主题。
护士在临终关怀期间的角色分为四类：提供信息和支持、增强父母与婴儿之间的依恋、为婴儿提供直接护理以及完成文件记录。护士在临终关怀期间感知到的挑战包括缺乏足够的经验和知识提供临终关怀、临终关怀的环境限制以及临终关怀期间的冲突情况。
尽管护士提供了他们所能提供的最佳护理，但由于各种原因，他们的临终关怀实践受到了阻碍。为了提高 NICU 护士提供护理的能力并使他们更有能力提供高质量的 EOL 护理，医院需要支持护士教育并提高人员配备水平，并在 NICU 中创造有利于提供 EOL 护理的环境。
