Nurses' Experiences of Palliative Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background & purpose: Despite recent advances in infant care technology, a number of infants are at risk in infancy period and need to palliative care. Nurses are responsible for the palliative care of the infants and the families. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explain the Nurses' Experiences of Palliative Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted by qualitative content analysis in the neonatal intensive care units of Isfahan in 2020. Inclusion criteria were Having the experience of caring for the newborn and their family at the end of life. For data collection by purposeful sampling method, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 nurses. Interviews were recorded, typed and analyzed. Goba and Lincoln criteria were used to ensure the rigor of the data. Results: The first theme was palliative care for the newborn. This theme consists of two categories: "end-of-life compassionate care" and "end-of-life spiritual care". The second theme was palliative care of the family. This theme consists of two categories: "Palliative care of the family before the death of the newborn" and "Palliative care of the family after the death of the newborn ". Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the importance of palliative care for the infants and families in the end of life care. The results of this research are used to improve the care of infants and families at the end of life and death for officials and nurses of the neonatal intensive care unit.