Introduction: Death is the most certain fact in life. Dying used to be a life event – our ancestors were dying at home, of natural causes. Today, dying and death have moved into health institutions. Dying is not an event, but an existential phenomenon. The human beings are both beings-to-themselves and beings-towards-death. As part of their profession, health professionals often face dying and death of their patients. Purpose: The purpose of the master’s thesis is to explore the main characteristics of the basic life activity of eating and drinking at the end of life from an ethical point of view by examining and analysing specialized and scientific literature. Using semi-structured interviews, we discussed eating and drinking problems encountered by health professionals when working with patients, as well as distress and dilemmas faced by health professionals when providing palliative care, especially feeding and drinking. Methods: As far as it concerns the theoretical basis and description of the research problem, we used the descriptive method, examining Slovenian and foreign literature and previous research in this field. In the empirical part, we used the method of a semi-structured interview divided into 9 categories. The research involved 15 health professionals that provide palliative care at all three levels of healthcare (we analysed these different sources of the same problem using triangulation). The interview texts were analysed using open coding. Results: Most interviewees see life as a process that ends with death. Dying is one of the most difficult moments, the hardest part of nursing profession; it should be decent, calm and painless. Reduced food intake and weakness are natural signs of departure. We try to feed patients as long as it makes sense. At the end, we only replace fluids – everything else is an unreasonable and non-quality extension of suffering. The interviewees believe that listening, taking into account patient’s opinions, desires and values, hydration, pain relief and breathing control are most important. Patients need treatment of maximum quality, despite the lack of time and staff. The majority of interviewed health professionals are most likely to talk to their co-workers because they are closest to them and in the same situation, while they can also talk to their superiors. Some of them miss professional conversations, supervision and useful training, while others talk to a psychologist or psychiatrist on their own initiative. They understand that any problem should be tackled promptly and that communication should be adjusted to a particular situation. Some relatives are not even aware of patient’s condition, while others cooperate and have a strategy in case of a deterioration. Discussion and conclusion: When faced with dying patients, most interviewees take on a psychological burden; some of them seek professional help and some of them do not. Working with dying patients requires a special set of skills at palliative nursing care, ethics, and communication. After acquiring these new skills, working with dying people and their relatives becomes easier and less stressful, while cooperation between different levels of healthcare becomes smoother. By introducing supervision into a clinical environment, health professionals would find it easier to face work dilemmas, while the actual introduction of professional competencies and healthcare standards in this field would facilitate their work. The research gave us insight into the problems encountered by health professionals when working with dying patients. The field of palliative care offers many possibilities and opportunities for improvements, development and research in the presence of cooperation and mutual support of all those working in this field.
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