The purpose of this study is to facilitate understanding related to the near death experience for nurses. The research method used in this study was a qualitative research method, phenomenological approach.
The participants were three persons: two males and one female. One was confirmed dead by a medical doctor came to life 30 minutes later. Another was unconscious for 9 days, which means social death. The last one experienced near death from drowning.
The data was collected using in-depth interviews four times respectively from March 5, 1998 to June 10, 2001 and analyzed using Giorgi's phenomenological approach in qualitative methods.
The results of this study shows that the meaning of near death experience involved 'flashed scenes from his/her whole life', 'suffering', 'deviation', 'ambivalence about death', 'resuscitation' and 'maturity'. Further research is needed to provide nurses with wholistic care for persons experiencing near death.
As 2% of the dead come to life again, it is quite reasonable that the dead are left at a room temperature (without being frozen) for 3 or 4 days and carefully watched 24 hours by the mourning family members before the final burial in the Korean traditional funeral ceremony held at home.
If one can have a new life from near death experience, this experience serves as an excellent chance for the person concerned to make a new decision for a more meaningful life and enforce positive attitudes.
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