Reflexões sobre o morrer: a experiência do setor de oncologia do hospital de clínicas da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

Abstract

Introduction: Death, which is a natural and certain event in the lives of all people, is viewed with a lot of suffering and is surrounded by defense mechanisms which are consolidated socially, in the vain attempt to lessen the distressing effects that its presence brings. Although many scholars have been addressing the issue, there is still a great amount of difficulty on the part of health professionals in giving assistance to people in the final phase of life. Objective: To contribute to the creation of knowledge related to the final phase of life. Material and Methods: A descriptive exploratory study with qualitative approach. Data were collected by way of unstructured interview, recorded at the Oncology Sector of the Hospital de Clinicas, Federal University of Uberlândia. Ten (10) volunteers from the Fight for Life Group, six (6) patients, eight (8) family members and four (4) technical crew members took part, totaling twenty-eight (28) people being interviewed in all. The discourses of the subjects were organized using content analysis, with consequent identification of discussion categories. Results and Conclusion: The results allow one to raise hypotheses as to the conditions of “a good death” taking place, as well as the knowledge as to the need for changes in assistance to people in the final phase of life.