Nurses' Communication With the Families of Patients at the End-of-Life.

Background: Effective communication is important in providing quality care to families at the end-of-life. In the end-of-life situations, the nurses' views on how to communicate with the family are not well understood.

Aim: This study was conducted to explore the nurses' experiences of their communication with families of patients at the end-of-life situations.

Methods: The authors used standards for reporting qualitative research. The data were analyzed by conventional content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 Iranian nurses who had the experiences of dealing with patients' families at the end-of-life.

Results: Nurses' perceptions of communication with families emerged base on the main theme: "Disrupted communication" consisting of two categories: "restricted communication" and "abortive communication."

Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the need to increase the professional and ethical sensitivity of nurses in dealing with patients' families at the end-of-life.