The Caring Mission—Healthcare Personnel’s Inner Driving Force in End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Constantly facing human suffering and impending death can generate anxiety and insecurity in nursing personnel in end-of-life care. The aim of the study is to reveal nursing personnel’s inner driving force in end-of-life care. A phenomenological hermeneutical method was used to search for meaning in the narrative data collected in this study. The structural analysis resulted in four themes: The appeal in the patient’s vulnerability, The appeal in the patient’s joy, Facing one’s own existence in vulnerability, and Being at home with colleagues. Both vulnerability and joy motivated nursing personnel in caring. The care was often emotionally engaging and oscillated between grief and joy, which required a great deal from the nursing personnel both as professionals and fellow human beings. At the same time the emotionally engaging constituted an inner driving force, which gave them courage to do the best for the patients at the end of life.