How Nurses Communicate About Amputation and Death in Specialised Outpatient Wound Clinics-A Qualitative Study.
Emma Sandberg Nautrup, Kristoffer Marsaa, Heidi Bergenholtz and 1 others
PMID 41656964WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses in chronic wound clinics focused on wound healing and often avoided conversations about amputation or death.
They cited limited skills, time, unclear roles, and fear of removing hope. Some patients raised amputation because of pain or exhaustion.
Key findings
01Nurses focused on wound treatment and often avoided conversations about amputation or death.
02Nurses said these conversations were uncommon because of limited skills, fear of diminishing hope, time constraints, unclear roles and no structured approach.
03Across observations of consultations involving 84 patients with chronic leg or foot wounds, discussions about prognosis, amputation or mortality were rare.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used a convenience sample of nurses and observed only clinics where the researcher was already known. Observations relied on handwritten field notes rather than audio or video recordings. Data collection was carried out by the same researcher, and the observer's presence may have influenced behaviour. The data were collected before the publication period. The study analysed nurses' communication and perceptions, not patients' own experiences. The study describes practice and barriers; it does not test whether changing communication improves outcomes.
Declared interests
The Novo Nordisk Foundation and Steno Diabetes Centre Zealand funded the work. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that talking about amputation or death improves patient outcomes. The study describes nurses' communication and barriers. It did not test an intervention or measure patient outcomes.