Assessing nurses' attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients in a comprehensive cancer center.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To assess how nurses employed in a comprehensive cancer center feel about death and caring for dying patients and examine any relationships between their attitudes and demographic factors. DESIGN Descriptive quantitative. SETTING A 432-bed comprehensive cancer center in New York, NY. SAMPLE A convenience sample of 355 inpatient and outpatient oncology nurses. METHODS Voluntary and anonymous completion of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD), the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R), and a demographic questionnaire. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES Years of total nursing experience, years employed at the cancer center, previous experience with caring for dying patients, age, gender, and attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients. FINDINGS Statistically significant relationships were noted among age, nursing experience, previous experience with caring for terminally ill patients, and scores on the FATCOD and DAP-R. Nursing experience and age were the variables most likely to predict nurses' attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients. CONCLUSIONS RNs with more work experience tended to have more positive attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Based on the data collected in the study, less experienced oncology nurses will most likely benefit from increased education, training, and exposure to providing and coping effectively with end-of-life care.