Caring for brain dead patients – the experience of nursing staff

Abstract

Purpose: Understand the experience of nursing staff concerning the care given to potential organ donors with brain death; check if the brain death interferes in the care provided by the nursing staff and describe how this care experience affects the life of those professionals. Methods: The study has a qualitative approach. The data were collected from a healthcare center that issues notifications of brain death of potential tissue and organ donors. 10 semi-structured interviews, recorded on mp3, were conducted by the nursing staff that works on the ICU. The data were analyzed according to their reports. Result: Three categories of analysis emerged: difficulty in coping with death while looking after the body; life continuity and the role of the nursing staff in the process of organ donation. It was verified that professionals left their courses unable deal with death and that they may be subjected to certain levels of stress during the process of looking after BD patients. Conclusion: Taking care of brain dead patients is a difficult issue once it raises ethical, moral, spiritual matters that make this professional engaged in this process of ensuring life continuity in another person’s body.