Authors

• Alisa Bošnjak

Keywords

dying, death, nurses

DOI

Full Text

Introduction : Aim of this study was to investigate views of medical nurses/technician about effects of patient’s dying and death on their beliefs. Methods : This research involved 400 participants, nurses and medical technicians of University Hospital Centre Osijek. We used standardized questionnaire Death Attitude Profile-Revised. ( 1 ) Questionnaire consists of 32 statements regarding the different attitudes toward death. The second part of research was composed of Interpersonal reactivity index questionnaire ( 2 ) which provides multidimensional measure of empathic response, measures of cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. Questionnaire is based on self-assessment and contains 28 statements which are divided in four subgroups. Results : Male examinees have less fear of death (p=0.001). Fear of death is higher in examinees with lower level of education in comparison with those with higher degree qualification (p=0.02). There is no difference between surgical and non-surgical wards. Elderly participants have higher grades of acceptance (p=0.178; p<0.001). Stronger interpersonal reactivity was examined in participants who were very religious with median of 63 (IQR=55-71) (p=0.02). 276 (69.1%) participants agree that there is need for education on dying and patient death. Conclusion : Statistical higher acceptance of dying and death was examined in nurses and medical technicians who have higher education. There is difference in gender, age and employment. There is a need for education about dying and patient death.