Polish nurses’ and midwives’ attitudes towards death, the definition of brain death and its diagnostic criteria: a questionnaire survey among master’s students

The medical definition of brain death raises several doubts, not only of a medical nature but also of a religious, ethical, and legal nature. Apart from the difficulties regarding definitional findings, there are doubts about tests, diagnostic criteria, and imaging methods used to pronounce death. This study analyses the attitudes of Polish nurses and midwives enrolled in master’s programmes towards death, the definition of brain death, and its diagnostic criteria. The study utilised data from a self-administered, anonymous pen-and-paper survey conducted among 269 master’s students of nursing and midwifery at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland. All participants were already qualified nurses or midwives, and most were currently working in their profession. The study yielded three main findings. Firstly, participants’ views on death varied and reflected both medical and non-medical considerations. Most respondents (90.4%) viewed death as a final phenomenon characterised by the irreversible and final loss of life, while 78.8% agreed that the understanding of death is influenced by factors beyond medical criteria. Secondly, although most respondents (82.5%) accepted the medical definition of brain death, responses to more specific questions revealed uncertainty and inconsistency. Nearly one-quarter (23.8%) agreed that brain death is not the same as human death, while approximately two-thirds to three-quarters across the analysed subgroups indicated that a brain-dead patient should not be treated as dead. In addition, 45.0% were uncertain whether existing diagnostic criteria are insufficient, and 60.9% agreed that more accurate diagnostic tests are needed. Thirdly, religiosity, political orientation, professional activity, and place of residence were associated with response distributions for selected attitudes towards death and brain death, although these associations varied across individual statements. Although most participating nurses and midwives accepted the medical definition of brain death, some expressed reservations or uncertainty about its equivalence with human death, its implications and selected diagnostic issues. The findings identify areas of agreement, uncertainty, and variation that may inform nursing and midwifery education. Clear teaching on brain death and its diagnostic criteria, together with opportunities to discuss its ethical and thanatological dimensions, may help prepare students for related challenges in clinical practice.