Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41168118›Full record

ArticleChild health nursing research2025

Nurses' perceptions of end-of-life care in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units in Korea: a qualitative descriptive study using thematic analysis.

Hyo Jeong Lee, Hyejin Kim

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Article in Child health nursing research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Hyo Jeong LeeRegistered Nurse, Seoul Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Hyejin KimAssociate Professor, Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTo explore nurses' perceptions of end-of-life care in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, focusing on the components, facilitators, and challenges of such care in daily practice.

methodsA qualitative descriptive study was conducted. Data were collected from June to October 2023 through semi-structured individual interviews with 17 nurses from the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units of four tertiary general hospitals in a metropolitan area of South Korea, and were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques.

resultsWe identified three themes and nine subthemes: (1) supporting families' emotional and relational closure, (2) perceiving relational and systemic support as enabling end-of-life care, and (3) feeling constrained by systemic and practical challenges. Participants perceived fostering an emotional connection with the child, ensuring opportunities for meaningful farewell, and supporting emotional acceptance of death as ways to support families' emotional and relational closure with their child. Although relational and systemic support, such as collaborative teamwork, clear communication, shared planning, and structured tools, enabled compassionate care, participants also felt unprepared, burdened by heavy workloads, and hindered by environmental barriers.

conclusionThe findings highlight that delivering quality end-of-life care in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units requires supporting families' emotional needs, strengthening relational and systemic support, and addressing practical challenges. Further research is needed to develop and test practical strategies (e.g., specialized education in compassionate communication, standardized protocols, and supportive care environments) that can improve the quality of end-of-life care for neonatal and pediatric patients and their families.

Indexed as

Neonatal intensive care unitPalliative carePediatric intensive care unitQualitative researchTerminal care

Identifiers

PMID41168118
PMCPMC12575397

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