{"title":"Rescuing beyond cure: Adapting rescue fantasies in palliative care.","authors":"Michal Mahat-Shamir, Manal Msarwa, Yael Doft","doi":"10.1080/07481187.2025.2510480","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rescue fantasies, or the desire to \"save\" patients, are common among healthcare providers. However, in palliative care, when curing is not an option, these fantasies may conflict with the realities of end-of-life care. This study explores how palliative care staff modify their rescue fantasies to align with the unique characteristics of their work. Thirteen staff members from an Israeli hospital's palliative care unit participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants acknowledged the impossibility of saving patients' lives in palliative care, yet did not entirely abandon their rescue fantasies. Instead, these fantasies were adapted into two distinct themes: (a) rescuing patients' quality of life, and (b) rescuing patients' families. By shifting their focus from saving lives to enhancing quality of life and supporting families, staff members navigate the emotional challenges of their work while maintaining their professional identities.</p>","PeriodicalId":11041,"journal":{"name":"Death Studies","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Death Studies","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2025.2510480","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Rescue fantasies, or the desire to "save" patients, are common among healthcare providers. However, in palliative care, when curing is not an option, these fantasies may conflict with the realities of end-of-life care. This study explores how palliative care staff modify their rescue fantasies to align with the unique characteristics of their work. Thirteen staff members from an Israeli hospital's palliative care unit participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants acknowledged the impossibility of saving patients' lives in palliative care, yet did not entirely abandon their rescue fantasies. Instead, these fantasies were adapted into two distinct themes: (a) rescuing patients' quality of life, and (b) rescuing patients' families. By shifting their focus from saving lives to enhancing quality of life and supporting families, staff members navigate the emotional challenges of their work while maintaining their professional identities.
期刊介绍：
Now published ten times each year, this acclaimed journal provides refereed papers on significant research, scholarship, and practical approaches in the fast growing areas of bereavement and loss, grief therapy, death attitudes, suicide, and death education. It provides an international interdisciplinary forum in which a variety of professionals share results of research and practice, with the aim of better understanding the human encounter with death and assisting those who work with the dying and their families.
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