ReviewJournal of advanced nursing2022
Nurses' experiences of supporting patients requesting voluntary assisted dying: A qualitative meta-synthesis.
Review in Journal of advanced nursing, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assisted Dying Makes Us Think Differently About Care.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- ["Everything was both very fast and very slow at the same time": heterochronic experiences of healthcare professionals in the provision of aid in dying in Spain].Salud colectiva · 2026Article
- Institutional challenges in responding to Austria's Dying Decree Law: An evaluation from the perspectives of nursing and medical directors.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Shaping a knowable event or embracing a mysterious journey: A mixed methods study on palliative care clinician views on voluntary assisted dying.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Early experiences of the End of Life Choice Act 2019 amongst assisted dying practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Implications of assisted dying for nursing practice.Nursing ethics · 2025Article
- Assisted Suicide in Austria: Nurses' Understanding of Patients' Requests and the Role of Patient Symptoms.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Exploring the early experiences of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative study protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Health care providers' early experiences of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand: an evolving clinical service.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Nurses' experiences of supporting patients requesting voluntary assisted dying: A qualitative meta-synthesis.Journal of advanced nursing · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimDescribe the reported lived experiences of nurses who have participated at any stage of voluntary assisted dying (VAD), from the initial request to the end of life.
designA qualitative meta-synthesis. DATA SOURCES: Databases searched were CINAHL, MEDLINE, Emcare, Scopus and PsycInfo. The search was undertaken in September 2021 with no date limitations. Qualitative studies were considered if published in English, reported primary data analysis of nurses' experiences who had been involved in VAD and reported direct quotes from nurses. REVIEW
methodsQualitative studies meeting the selection criteria were critically appraised, then an open card-sort method was applied. Quotes from nurses were organized to group similar experiences, constructing themes and metaphors across studies as a new understanding of nurses' experiences of VAD.
resultsEight studies were included. Three major themes were constructed: An orderly procedure, reflecting the need for structure to feel adequately prepared; A beautiful death, reflecting the autonomy the patient exercised when choosing VAD facilitated an exceptionally positive death; and Psychological and emotional impact, where nurses recognized the emotional and ethical weight that they carried for themselves and the team when undertaking VAD.
conclusionNurses may benefit from clear policy, supervision and communication training to support them as countries transition to providing VAD services. Policy provides nurses with confidence that they are undertaking the steps of VAD correctly and provides a layer of emotional protection. Communication training specific to VAD is necessary to prepare nurses to recognize their own emotional experiences when responding to the needs of the patient and their family. IMPACT: VAD is increasingly becoming a legal option that nurses are encountering in their professional practice. Understanding nurses' experiences of being involved in VAD is required to support nurses in countries where VAD is becoming available to prepare professionally and psychologically.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.