The nursing actions before the right to worthy death of the hospitalized child

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: To describe the nursing actions facing the right to worthy death of the child and to analyze the (im) possibilities for promoting worthy death of the hospitalized child. Method: Qualitative approach based on the concept of a worthy death, with 16 members of the nursing team, who work in a pediatric hospitalization unit, through the Non-Directive Interview in Group. Data submitted to thematic analysis. Results: The actions minimize the suffering and make the environment more welcoming for the child and family. A dignified death is possible when the child and family are prepared; the decisions are shared; the bond with the team is established; the religious and bioethical aspects are respected and the framework of irreversibility is recognized. These factors guarantee the strengthening of the family; the bioethical principles; the acceptance of the child's death, and the mitigation of the stressors aspects. Conclusions and implications for practice: The nursing team promotes the dignified death of the child based on individual convictions of dignity, since there are no models of care for the child at the final moment of life and death yet, in the unit, the study scenario. Such actions contribute to the creation of new models of care for the child that safeguard primarily the human dignity at the time of death.