Abstract:

Objective To systematically integrate the experience of nursing interns witnessing the death of patients in clinical practice，so as to provide reference for promoting the development of hospice nursing education for nursing students and improving the level of clinical teaching. Methods A total of eight databases（PubMed，Web of Science，CINAHL，Embase，Wanfang Data，VIP Database，CBM and CNKI） were searched to collect the relevant qualitative researches on the death experience of nursing interns. The retrieval time was set from the establishment of the database to September 2022. After that，two researchers independently performed literature quality evaluation and data extraction. Results A total of 11 studies were included，with 40 research results extracted and summarized into five new categories. Results were integrated into two themes. The first theme was that nursing interns adopt a variety of adjustment strategies to cope with complex emotional changes，and subsequently achieve personal growth and promote career reversal after witnessing the death of the patient. The second theme was that nursing interns realize their own shortcomings and are eager to get more education of end-of-life nursing. Conclusion The results of this study summarize the real emotional experience and cognitive changes of nursing interns after the death of patients under different educational backgrounds at home and abroad，and provide a reference and basis for nursing educators to improve and carry out end-of-life nursing education.

Key words: Clinical Clerkship, Students, Nursing, Qualitative Research, Patient death events, Meta-synthesis