ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a descriptive analysis research of the interactive behaviors of a group of registered nurses caring for a population of patients considered typical of a hospital-based discrete hospice unit. Although role transition was required of the nurses, no role conflict or role insufficiency was observed. Humanistic caring was found to be the unifying focus of care for acutely ill and terminally ill patients, and to form the core of the nurses’ shared values and nursing philosophies. Specialized preparation for the hospice nurses’ dual role must include both hospice and acute care components in continuing professional education programs. Caring behaviors diminished in interactions with unresponsive patients and with disoriented or confused patients. The findings are congruent with the symbolic interactionist framework, according to which humans continually construct their social responses by interpreting the meanings of the stimuli they receive in social interactions.
