Abstract
Background: End-of-life care in intensive care units involves complex emotional, ethical, and clinical challenges. Compassionate end-of-life care extends beyond clinical management to include culturally sensitive spiritual support, facilitation of family presence, and death rituals. Nurses play a pivotal role in ensuring care is dignified and responsive to patients and families, yet their contributions in South African adult ICUs remain underexplored.
Purpose: To explore South African nurses’ contributions to compassionate end-of-life care in adult intensive care units.
Methods: A qualitative design using in-depth semi-structured interviews was employed. Sixteen nurses from a multidisciplinary adult intensive care unit participated. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically.
Results: Three themes were developed: Compassionate Clinical Care, Engaged Family Partnership and Communication and Healing Intensive Care Environment. Nurses described basic care, such as patient hygiene, pain relief, and comfort, as central to dignified death. Their constant presence at the bedside, their role as advocates, and their emotional presence all helped to create an atmosphere of dignity, comfort, and respect. They supported families through clear communication, debriefings, and culturally sensitive rituals, and they valued quiet, private spaces with dim lighting and minimal equipment visibility.
Conclusions: Nurses express compassion through clinical care, family engagement, and humanizing the intensive care environment. Despite systemic challenges, they play a multifaceted role encompassing clinical, emotional, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Institutions should invest in training for compassionate communication, cultural competence, and environmental modifications, alongside structured emotional support systems. Strengthening nurses’ capacity for compassionate end-of-life care can improve the quality of dying for patients and families, particularly in resource-limited settings.
Notes
References:
Coventry, A., Gerdtz, M., McInnes, E., Dickson, J. and Hudson, P., 2023. Supporting families of patients who die in adult intensive care: A scoping review of interventions. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 78, p.103454.
Kentish-Barnes, N. and Meddick-Dyson, S., 2023. A continuum of communication: family-centred care at the end of life in the intensive care unit. Intensive Care Medicine, 49(4), pp.444-446.
Sigma Membership
Chi Xi at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Exploratory
Research Approach
Qualitative Research
Keywords:
Intensive Care Nursing, Intensive Care Units, Patient-Centered Care, Nurse-Patient Relationships, Empathy, Terminal Care, Critically Ill Patient Care, South Africa
Recommended Citation
Korsah, Emmanuel Kwame and Schmollgruber, Shelley, "Nurses’ Contributions to Compassionate End-of-Life Care in the Adult Intensive Care Unit" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 296.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/296
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-09-24
Nurses’ Contributions to Compassionate End-of-Life Care in the Adult Intensive Care Unit
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Background: End-of-life care in intensive care units involves complex emotional, ethical, and clinical challenges. Compassionate end-of-life care extends beyond clinical management to include culturally sensitive spiritual support, facilitation of family presence, and death rituals. Nurses play a pivotal role in ensuring care is dignified and responsive to patients and families, yet their contributions in South African adult ICUs remain underexplored.
Purpose: To explore South African nurses’ contributions to compassionate end-of-life care in adult intensive care units.
Methods: A qualitative design using in-depth semi-structured interviews was employed. Sixteen nurses from a multidisciplinary adult intensive care unit participated. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically.
Results: Three themes were developed: Compassionate Clinical Care, Engaged Family Partnership and Communication and Healing Intensive Care Environment. Nurses described basic care, such as patient hygiene, pain relief, and comfort, as central to dignified death. Their constant presence at the bedside, their role as advocates, and their emotional presence all helped to create an atmosphere of dignity, comfort, and respect. They supported families through clear communication, debriefings, and culturally sensitive rituals, and they valued quiet, private spaces with dim lighting and minimal equipment visibility.
Conclusions: Nurses express compassion through clinical care, family engagement, and humanizing the intensive care environment. Despite systemic challenges, they play a multifaceted role encompassing clinical, emotional, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Institutions should invest in training for compassionate communication, cultural competence, and environmental modifications, alongside structured emotional support systems. Strengthening nurses’ capacity for compassionate end-of-life care can improve the quality of dying for patients and families, particularly in resource-limited settings.
Description
End-of-life care in ICUs is emotionally and ethically complex. Nurses are central to ensuring dignity and compassion for patients and families. This study explores their contributions to clinical care, family engagement, and humanizing ICU spaces, highlighting strategies to strengthen compassionate care in resource-limited settings.