Death in the process of teaching and learning in nursing: Thinking in the light of the thought of Gadamer

This philosophical essay aims to reflect on the problem of death in nursing education from Gadamerian philosophy. Nurses have an important role to patients’ needs in the process of death, and to their families who are often not prepared for the end. Although in their training process, these professionals are trained to perform complex procedures and handling devices, they are not prepared to deal with issues related to the end of life. We observe that the discussion on the finiteness of life takes up minimal space in the curricula of the nursing course, and it needs to be considered as a fundamental part in nurses’ training. For teachers, this theme comes as a difficulty, which shows the need to think about death within the training process to work in the health area. Thus, we believe that the inclusion of philosophical and psychological subjects that address this topic in an interdisciplinary form, will give opportunities to confront death in a more natural way, both personally and professionally. This approach should occur from the beginning of the nurses’ qualification, giving death education a space in the curricula.