Death Notification in Italian Critical Care Unites and Emergency Services. A Qualitative Study with Physicians, Nurses and Relatives

Ines Testoni, Erika Iacona, Lorenza Palazzo, Beatrice Barzizza, Beatrice Baldrati, Davide Mazzon, Paolo Navalesi, Giovanni Mistraletti and Diego De Leo
Additional contact information
Ines Testoni: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Erika Iacona: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Lorenza Palazzo: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Beatrice Barzizza: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Beatrice Baldrati: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Davide Mazzon: Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
Paolo Navalesi: Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Giovanni Mistraletti: Department of Medical-Surgical Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milano, 20142 Milano, Italy
Diego De Leo: Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Brisbane 4122, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: This qualitative study was conducted in critical care units and emergency services and was aimed at considering the death notification (DN) phenomenology among physicians (notifiers), patient relatives (receivers) and those who work between them (nurses). Through the qualitative method, a systemic perspective was adopted to recognise three different categories of representation: 23 clinicians, 13 nurses and 11 family members of COVID-19 victims were interviewed, totalling 47 people from all over Italy (25 females, mean age: 46,36; SD: 10,26). With respect to notifiers, the following themes emerged: the changes in the relational dimension, protective factors and difficulties related to DN. With respect to receivers, the hospital was perceived as a prison, bereavement between DN, lost rituals and continuing bonds. Among nurses, changes in the relational dimension, protective factors and the impact of the death. Some common issues between physicians and nurses were relational difficulties in managing distancing and empathy and the support of relatives and colleagues. The perspective of receivers showed suffering related to loss and health care professionals’ inefficacy in communication. Specifically, everyone considered DNs mismanaged because of the COVID-19 emergency. Some considerations inherent in death education for DN management among health professionals were presented.

Keywords: COVID-19; death notification; critical care units; qualitative research; death education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13338/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13338/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13338-:d:705431

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().