Relatives' experience of the moment of death in a tertiary referral hospital

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Irish Health Repository > Other Irish Health Organisations > Charitable & Advocacy Organisations > Milford Care Centre > Relatives' experience of the moment of death in a tertiary referral hospital

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Title:	Relatives' experience of the moment of death in a tertiary referral hospital
Authors:	Donnelly, Sinead Battley, Jodie
Citation:	Relatives' experience of the moment of death in a tertiary referral hospital 2010, 15 (1):81 Mortality
Journal:	Mortality
Issue Date:	Feb-2010
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10147/238561
DOI:	10.1080/13576270903537641
Additional Links:	http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13576270903537641
Type:	Article
Description:	The moment of death carries a compelling image and dominant concept throughout history. However, the hospice says so little about this last moment of life, when cultural tradition has said so much. Historically, death was seen as a natural extension of life and the moment of death was held sacred. There was ritual and custom associated with this time for the person who was dying and the community. We wished to determine if this time still had significance in the acute hospital where a majority of deaths occur and to explore what added or detracted from this experience for relatives. In this article, we discuss the results of a qualitative enquiry into the moment of death in a hospital as experienced by relatives in Ireland. We interviewed 24 relatives of 15 patients who had died and who had been referred from a tertiary referral hospital to a consultative palliative care service soon after the death. The following themes emerged from the interviews, hospital as a place to die; quality of communication; location within hospital; attributes of staff. Finally, those we interviewed remembered in compelling detail and with heightened awareness, the humanity of staff, the mystery and spirituality of the moment of death, the acceptable and unacceptable aspects of their surroundings.
Keywords:	DEATH HOSPICE
ISSN:	1357-6275 1469-9885
Appears in Collections:	Milford Care Centre

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10147/238561
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