Conceptualisation of nurses as information intermediaries for patients in palliative care

Abstract

It is argued that notwithstanding the life expectation of patients in palliative care, they still grapple with a wide spectrum of uncertainties for which they require answers to bring relief from anxiety. Nurses, appreciative of their role to relief anxiety, are often the only persons with whom patients have regular contact that can assist them in finding answers. Although nursing staff are well trained in palliative care, they often experience frustration when they fail to access the right information that will provide their patients’ information needs. Despite evidence of numerous successful information provision interventions by nursing staff, the literature continues to report unmet information needs and frustrations of patients and their families. As a solution, this paper offers an exploratory conceptualisation of nurses and palliative care which can serve as a framework for further investigations towards enhancing nursing staff’s information intermediary capacity.