The experiences of the registered nurse caring for the person dying of cancer in a nursing home.

This paper reports on research that set out to identify and describe the experiences of the registered nurse caring for the resident dying of cancer in a nursing home. The research method used was a qualitative single case study involving five registered nurses in one nursing home. Thematic analysis of data from unstructured interviews and reflective journals was used to explicate the nurses' experiences. Four major themes were extracted from the data. These themes were the exclusivity of the relationships, difficulties in the management of pain, the expectations of the registered nurse and the impact of caring. The nurses' experiences were loving, fascinating, compelling and rich. The overarching experience of the nurses came from the relationship they formed with the residents. A crucial finding in this study was that these registered nurses valued the elderly resident and developed meaningful relationships with them. All aspects of the relationships were unique and profound. However, the emotional involvement with the resident, multiple death losses, confrontation of personal losses, limited workplace support such as counselling, potentially places these registered nurses at emotional risk from burnout and complicated bereavement. The implications of these findings for nursing practice, education and research are discussed.