Attitudes of nursing staff to the autopsy

We assessed the Views of hospital nurses on the autopsy, using a questionna ire which was distributed by hand to all qualified nurses working at Manche ster Royal Infirmary during a 48-h period. We found that many respondents ( 43%) had had occasion to discuss autopsy with relatives, and the majority ( 90%) would like to learn more about counselling the bereaved. Few (15%) cle arly understood the legal distinction between coroners' and hospital autops ies. Almost all (97%) thought the main reason for autopsy was determination of the cause of death, and only 12% supported a role in clinical audit. Mo re respondents saw benefits for doctors rather than for nurses, and only 56 % perceived a benefit for relatives. in general, nursing staff have a more positive View of the autopsy than we anticipated, and we would advocate mak ing more information about the benefits of autopsy available to nurses.