ABSTRACT
In terminal care it is important that a therapeutic environment be established for the patient at the earliest possible moment following his admission to the unit. Health care workers should have the ability to move quickly into the unsettling world of the person who has been told that his condition is terminal. Health care workers who understand the meaning of the therapeutic environment and know its value will respond to the needs of the terminal person. The ability to transcend into the world of a dying person is the essence of authentic therapy. The close feelings of friendship between staff and patients can emerge and develop within the confines of health care facilities the same way that relationships develop in the outside world. Many patients bring into hospitals, along with their terminal illness, the same likeable attractive human traits and personalities that draw people together anywhere else in the world.
