The objective of this qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study is to describe and to analyze the nurse's lived experiences concerning the death and dying process among oncology patients. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews carried out with ten nurses from September to October of 2007. This data was analyzed based on the content analysis and thematic modality. In the results and discussion, the depositions obtained were categorized as: the meaning of death for the nurse; involvement in the death and dying process among oncology patients; and emotional preparation for nurses to face this process. These professionals demonstrate in their speeches a great anxiety in dealing with death, seeking to deny it since death constitutes a painful and difficult to accept phenomenon.
Medical oncology; Oncologic nursing; Death; Thanatology