Describe the attitude and coping of nursing staff when griefing patients who deceased in the Critical Care Unit.

Abstract

Introduction: in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where life and death constantly intersect, nursing staff face significant emotional burdens. Patient loss can trigger feelings of helplessness, guilt, and even compassion fatigue, underscoring the need for specialised training in bereavement and palliative care. This study analyses, based on scientific evidence, nursing staff’s attitudes towards these situations. Objective: to describe the attitudes of nursing staff when coping with grief following patient deaths in the ICU. Method: a narrative systematic review was conducted using the PICO strategy. Searches were performed in PubMed, EBSCO, Google Scholar, and SciELO, employing the keywords: "attitude," "death," "nursing staff" (English) and "actitud," "muerte," "personal de enfermería" (Spanish). Articles published between 2019 and 2024 were included. External validation applied the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and CASPe (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme) criteria. Results and Discussion: post-mortem support from healthcare staff is limited, exacerbating compassion fatigue. Professionals emphasise the need for a multidisciplinary team to provide emotional support to both staff and bereaved families. Furthermore, the absence of institutional protocols worsens emotional stress and unprocessed grief. Conclusions: promoting a mental health culture among professionals reduces the stigma associated with grief. Comprehensive strategies—such as palliative care training and psychological support—improve grief management in ICUs. In clinical practice, it is equally critical to implement institutional policies safeguarding the emotional well-being of staff and families.