Maternal, Child Health and Neonatal Nursing Commons^™

Exploring Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses’ Affective Responses To Providing End-Of-Life Care, Stephanie Lynn Lewis

Doctoral Dissertations

Significance. The Joint Commission established standards to evaluate comprehensive end-of-life infant care and the positive outcomes of such care are well documented. However, findings from multiple studies conducted over the last decade indicate that end-of-life care in the neonatal intensive care unit is not provided consistently or holistically to all dying infants. Because nurses are the healthcare professionals most often responsible for providing this care, anything that detracts from their ability to provide it, including their own affective responses, needs to be addressed.

Aim. The purpose of this study was to explore—through lived and told stories—the affective, interactional, and …