[Dying during the pandemic: Experiences of relatives of patients who died during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile].

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic marked a milestone in the history of medicine worldwide. Together with the humanitarian drama it represented, the problems that arose are promoting lines of research in multiple fields. One of these fields is the aspects related to medical communication and end-of-life care. This paper reports the experiences and perceptions of relatives of patients who died during the pandemic with a psychospiritual support intervention in a public hospital in the Metropolitan Region, Chile, called "farewell".

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological approach based on in-depth interviews. From this, categories were derived that allowed a systematization of the observation of the experiences.

Results: Among the results, the impact of the circumstances and the communication provided by the medical team on grief should be highlighted. The use of the word "farewell" emerges as a useful, albeit ambiguous, communicative tool when it comes to adequately framing an end-of-life process.

Conclusions: It is argued that the end of life is an area that requires physical and psychospiritual spaces, and adequate training at all levels to do justice to a highly relevant moment in the care of people.