Facilitating the development of clinical skills in caring for dying people in hospital

Research shows that diploma level preparation has resulted in newly qualified nurses with clinical skill deficits (e.g. Macleod Clark et al. 1996, Carlisle et al. 1999). Part of the governmentʹs current plan to improve the quality of services delivered by the NHS is to address this problem through the introduction of a new nursing role; a role incorporating both clinical practice and teaching (Department of Health 1999). This paper draws data from a phenomenological study of 28 qualified diplomat nurses. It identifies their self-perceived skill deficits in relation of caring for dying people in acute hospital medical wards, and the ways that they believe that they could best be helped to overcome these deficits. On the basis of these findings, strategies are recommended that a practitioner-educator might adopt, with the intention of facilitating skill development in the care of dying people.