Processos de confronto dos enfermeiros face à morte inesperada de crianças e adolescentes

Abstract

Objective: to understand the coping strategies nurses use to cope with unexpected death in pediatrics. Methods: qualitative research involving six nursing professionals working in pediatric emergency and intensive care services. Content analysis was performed. Results: two groups of categories emerged from the data describing coping processes: strategies focused on assessing the situation in which the professionals try, through rational processes, to understand and accept the unexpected death; strategies focused on emotional management, in which the suffering resulting from the confrontation coping with the unexpected death is acknowledged, seeking strategies to better manage the event. Conclusion: the professionals suffer and seek coping mechanisms to manage the process of mourning over the unexpected death of a child/adolescent.