Abstract
Objective: To verify the relation of health professionals from an Intensive Care Center when facing the death and dying of patients. Methodologies: This is an exploratory and descriptive study using the qualitative method. 11 health professionals from five different professional categories participated, acting in adult and pediatric intensive care units from a public hospital from Western Amazon. The data was collected through semi-structured interview and submitted for content analysis as proposed by Bardin. Results: three categories of analysis were raised. In them, feelings of impotence, indifference and sadness were found, as well as meanings as an end to suffering and a transcendental cause. Such feelings and meanings can coexist and are crossed by characteristic factors from the patient, the professional and also from the relation between both. Professionals recognize the necessity of psychological support, awareness about the process of death and application of the principles of palliative care. Conclusion: Since living with death can negatively affect these subjects, specially with regard to professional competence, there is a need for actions aimed at education for death as a means of instrumentalizing these professionals.