ArticleBMC palliative care2023
"Daring to deal with the difficult and unexpected" registered nurses' confidential conversations with patients with palliative care needs: a qualitative interview study.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fostering nurse-patient relationships in palliative care: An integrative review with narrative synthesis.Palliative medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Confidential Conversations in Palliative Care: Capability, Vulnerability, and Relational Encounter.Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals · 2026Article
- Article
- Grief after the death of a close relative: a study of associated factors and perceptions of bereavement support.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Confidential Conversations in Palliative Care: An Ethnographic Exploration of Trust and Interpersonal Relationship Between Nurse and Patient.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- Self-care practices among nurses at an academic institution in a conflict zone: a cross-sectional study.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Beyond Everyday Small Talk: A Qualitative Study on Registered Nurses' Confidential Conversations in Palliative Care.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Conceptualizing end-of-life communication by nursing staff as part of advance care planning with older people: A multiple discipline focus group study.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2025Article
- Lived experiences of life with newly diagnosed advanced cancer - a qualitative interview study.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2025Article
- Existential Reflections Expressed by Patients in Need of Hospital Care: A Qualitative Study.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2025Article
- The Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP): content validity and response processes from the perspective of patients and nurses in Swedish specialised palliative home care.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Interdisciplinary strategies for establishing a trusting relation as a pre-requisite for existential conversations in palliative care: a grounded theory study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Article
- A Systematic Review of Nurse-Patient Communication Status in Palliative Care and its Affecting Factors.Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery researchReview
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn palliative care, registered nurses provide advanced nursing care to relieve patients' symptoms and increase their quality of life based on physical, mental, social and existential dimensions. Conversations, often about existential issues, are an important part of nursing and can affect quality of life positively. Confidential conversations between patients and nurses occur naturally while other nursing activities are being performed. Despite their great importance for palliative care these are rarely described.
aimTo gain a deeper understanding of how nurses in palliative care experience and describe confidential conversations with patients.
methodSecondary analysis of data from 17 open-ended face-to-face interviews with registered nurses in palliative care was conducted. Qualitative content analysis using an inductive approach was used to gain a deeper understanding and analyse the latent content.
resultsThe confidential conversation was considered an important part of palliative care and is the nurse's responsibility. This responsibility was described as complex and placed various demands on the nurses, both personal and professional. A prerequisite for the conversation was the interpersonal relationship. The conversation allowed the patient to process important matters not previously addressed or put into words. It had no predetermined content, was unplanned and entirely on the patient's terms. For nurses the conversation could be experienced both as draining and a source of power and strength. The nurses also described safeguarding the patient through the conversation.
conclusionNurses' confidential conversations with patients are essential in palliative care and must be highlighted more to increase the quality of palliative care. The confidential conversations often have an existential content and are challenging for the nurses. Therefore, nurses need time, knowledge, and supervision to increase their conversation skills.
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.