The impact of unrelieved patient suffering on palliative care nurses

Aim: To describe the impact of unrelieved patient suffering on nurses working with palliative care patients. Design: This was a qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured interviews. Sample: Nine experienced palliative care nurses were interviewed. Results: Nurses acknowledged that the term 'suffering' generally was not used in the workplace. The nurses identified that only a small group of patients died with suffering that could be classified as 'unrelieved' but that the impact of these patients' suffering on themselves was enormous. Nurses described the impact in terms of perceptions of suffering (difficult situation), feelings (helplessness, distress, feelings of failure), bearing the burden (alcohol consumption, headaches) and effects on their relationships with family. The nurses identified several factors that increased the personal impact of unrelieved patient suffering. The most important strategy for ameliorating the impact of unrelieved patient suffering was informal support from work colleagues. Conclusion: The nurses' stories indicate that the personal impact of unrelieved patient suffering could be reduced through acknowledgment of this suffering and better formal and informal support mechanisms.