A person revived after clinical death often returns with a story of leaving their body, flying through a tunnel towards light, and encountering divine beings. The first people who listen to such accounts should be nurses or doctors (if the patient trusts them). However, they often explain these things as physiological or psychological deviations and sometimes let their own religious beliefs interfere with their interpretations.
Filipino researchers Regie De Jesus and Hansel Gadon believe that medical staff and hospital employees should be trained to know what a near-death experience (NDE) is. This will enable them to listen to patients with understanding, show empathy, and help patients cope with complex emotions.
The authors recruited 21 volunteers (female and male nurses) and conducted detailed interviews, which led the scientists to identify five stages of understanding the NDE topic:
1. Superficial knowing: The attitude towards survivors’ stories is skeptical, and they are treated as fiction or hallucinations.
2. Experiential acquisition: The phenomenon of NDE sparks curiosity and a desire to learn more.
3. Substantiation: The staff member seeks evidence of the reality of NDEs by reading books and scientific articles and discussing information with colleagues.
4. Reflection: The healthcare professional contemplates the acquired knowledge and tries to determine how to help patients who have survived clinical death.
5. Deepened understanding: At this stage, the employee experiences a shift in perception and develops as a professional.
There are still many more questions than answers in the field of NDEs. NDEs can also be one of the phase states (for example, in an REMspace experiment, volunteers experienced the classic NDE scenario, including flying through a tunnel, in a lucid dream). In any case, medical professionals need to be aware of current research in order to adequately assist patients.
At which stage of understanding are you?
The article was published in September 2023 in the British Journal of Nursing Studies.
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