Exploring Spanish emergency nurses' lived experience of the care provided for suddenly bereaved families

Aim of the study. To investigate the experience of emergency nurses caring for suddenly bereaved family members in the clinical setting, particularly after they are informed about the loss of a loved one. Design/methods. Data was obtained from semi-structured interviews with seven emergency nurses drawn from emergency nursing staff working in a Spanish Hospital. Interviews were tape recorded, and hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis was applied to gain understanding from the emergency nurses' experiences. Setting. The Accident and Emergency department in the Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria (Spain). Study undertaken in partial fulfillment of the main author's MSc (Department of Nursing and Community Health) at Glasgow Caledonian University. Results. Several themes emerged from those interviews, which appeared to form the basis of the emergency nurses' reality: knowing, relationships, culture and reality. They showed the need to reflect on personal and professional experiences to facilitate personal growth, discover meaning for emergency nurses and examine the possible implications for clinical care. Conclusions. This study enabled both participants and the researcher to evaluate critically what was troublesome from their perspective and to identify sources of innovation and liberation within everyday practices.