FAMILY CAREGIVERS PERSPECTIVES ON HOSPICE NURSING-CARE

In hospice nursing, dying persons and their families are the unit of c are and ?he locus of nursing interventions which are provided within t he context of interdisciplinary care. The key component of hospice nur sing is the interaction between ?he nurse, the terminally ill person, and the family. This naturalistic study was designed to describe the f amily caregiver's relationships between the hospice patient, the nurse , and themselves, The intent was to determine if family caregivers wou ld develop empathic relationships with the hospice nurses. Nine bereav ed family caregivers participated in the study. All were bereaved at l east six months prior to being interviewed. The major finding of the s tudy was that family caregivers perceived the hospice nurses as part o i the family. The hospice nurses were characterized as respectful, kin d, caring, clinical experts whose presence and interventions helped me et the needs of the family experiencing death.