Examination of Symptoms Management Experiences of Nursing Working in the Palliative Care Clinic: A Qualitative Study

Purpose: This study aimed to describe symptoms management experiences of nursing working in the palliative care clinic. Method: The qualitative phenomenological approach and purposive sampling amongst nursing working in the Palliative Care Clinic was applied. Permission was obtained from a non-invasive ethics committee of a university and from the nurses was obtained consent. Researchers obtained permission from the Palliative Care Clinic of University Hospital and the nurses individuals who agreed to participate in the research. The population of the research consisted of nurses working in the Palliative Care Clinic in the oncology department of a university hospital. The data of the research were collected with Descriptive Characteristics Form and Semi-structured Interview Form. Fifteen nurses were interviewed using semi-structured research questions. Interviews were conducted in a private room on the palliative care clinic and lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. Colizzis method was used for data analysis and the rigor was based on transferability and credibility. The descriptive characteristics form comprised of questions on age, gender, education status, time of working in palliative care clinic. Results: All of the nurses participating in the study were female and the mean age was 33.16 7.98 years. Participants were 50 % of the participants are postgraduate, 33.3 % are undergraduate and 16.7 % are high school graduates. Nurses how many 83.3 %, have been working as nurses for more than 5 years, and 50 % of these nurses have been working in the palliative care clinic for more than 5 years. Following the analysis of the data, the expressions made by nurses during the interviews were grouped under 4 themes. Four clusters of themes were identified. Consistent with the questionnaire format, 4 themes and 8 subthemes were determined describing. Conclusion: Palliative care nurses experience some difficulties in physiological and psychosocial symptom management due to the patient group they work with. nurses should support the symptom management processes of patients, with different perspectives of nursing care practices and nursing interventions.