Nurses' experiences of providing care to bereaved families who experience unexpected death in intensive care units: A narrative overview.

BACKGROUND: Death is a common occurrence in intensive care units (IC Us) and the complexity of care makes it difficult for nurses to find a balance between the patient's physical needs and the family's emotional needs, especially in circumstances of unexpected death. Cumulative or unresolved grief for families can have lasting negative repercussions. Nurses, therefore, need access to bereavement education in order to provide optimal- bereavement support.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this review is to identify challenges and facilitators that nurses experience in delivering bereavement support during and after sudden or unexpected death in ICUs.

METHODS: A narrative overview was conducted based on a literature search using GINA HL, Medline, Psyclnfo, Scopus, and Pro quest databases, as well as grey literature, revealing 241 articles, 15 of which met inclusion criteria.

FINDINGS: Four themes surrounding bereavement support in the ICUs emerged: influence of hospital policies and organizational constraints; sign ~tl cance of time and trust; level of knowledge and support of staff and nurses' inner conflict, moral distress, and personal ways of coping.

CONCLUSION: The availability of up-to-date literature in this area is limited. Further research could inform organizational poli- cies, nursing education, and nursing staff development to address existing barriers. With adequate resources, practical strate- gies could be implemented to provide bereavement support that ensures optimal bereavement outcomes for families experiencing sudden or unexpected death in ICUs.