Preparing students to care for patients at the end of life

Student nurses complete placements in a variety of clinical settings and it is not possible to predict what situations they may encounter, which makes adequate preparation a challenge. They are likely to encounter death and dying during clinical placements from the very start of their education, without necessarily having adequate preparation for the experience. At the University of Derby, 59 first-year students in adult nursing who had completed their first placement evaluated their preparedness to encounter patients at the end of life. They generally found that they lacked training, support and confidence. This article discusses the results of the study and explores how pre-registration nursing education could be improved in this area.