Care after death

Providing personal care to the deceased patient, formerly called ‘last offices’ after the religious and military origins of nursing (Delacour, 1991), has been referred to as ‘care after death’ for several years (Wilson, 2015). Last offices involved the physical care of the body in preparation for transfer to the mortuary or funeral directors, whereas the term care after death encompasses the holistic care of not just the deceased patient, but also their family, significant others and health professionals (Wilson, 2015). The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2018a) supports the holistic approach to caring for deceased patients, stipulating that duty of care should include care of the deceased and bereaved while respecting cultural requirements and protocols. The family and carers of the person who has died should feel that the body has been cared for in a dignified and culturally sensitive manner (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2017). Caring for a dying patient is an integral part of nursing care and Quested and Rudge (2003) pointed out that performing last offices is the final duty of care for the patient. Although the procedure can conjure up a myriad of feelings in nurses such as fear and anxiety (Henock et al, 2017; Croxon et al, 2018), it can also have a positive effect with nurses seeing the procedure as a privilege.