Care of dying patients and patients after death: Patterns of care in nursing history

Nursing literature at the turn of the century was examined to determine patterns of nursing care given to dying and to dead patients by nurses at that time. Two nursing periodicals and two nursing textbooks were reviewed to identify patterns of care. These patterns included knowledge of the symptoms of death, care of the family of the dying, spiritual care, comforting the dying, nurses' close association with death, methods of giving postmortem care, preparation of the patient's room after death, disposition of the body after death, and nurses' attitudes toward the deaths of patients.