Nurses as Human Beings in End-of-Life Care—A Tentative Theory Model

This article presents a tentative theoretical model of nurses' becoming as human beings in end-of-life care. As human beings, nurses are vulnerable. Caring for patients at the end of life can strengthen their own understanding of life and death. In the caring communion, nurses gain contact with life and themselves as human beings. Nurses' becoming as human beings in end-of-life care can be understood as a strength and a willingness to act in love and in compassion as they strive to understand and be reconciled with their own life situations, happiness, and grief.