Affording patients their dying wish at the end of life

End of life brings with it a number of requests, wishes, demands and challenges for both patients and those deemed important to them. One of the challenges is how the patient's dying wish can be realised or fulfilled before they die. Without doubt, such wishes inevitably involve support from healthcare professionals, like community nurses, to achieve fruition. Therefore, this issue cannot be discussed without including nurses and others, such as family members and doctors, who may also play a crucial role in helping patients achieve their wish.

It is important to recognise patients' wishes, and community nurses can ensure there is a proper (honest) conversation that takes place to elicit this information. Honest conversation gives patients the encouragement and hope that, as professionals, community nurses will do everything in their power to support their wishes. Although the advance care planning (ACP) initiative can help patients convey their wishes, at times, that casual, non-threatening, informal conversation can elicit more specific wishes, such as having a beer before they die (James, 2019), which may not normally be listed in the ACP documentation. Identifying the preferred place of care and death is important not only for many patients but also for healthcare professionals and relatives who need to make future plans, and everyone concerned must be well informed. By extension, professionals can feel confident to discuss sensitive issues about dying openly and honestly if this is done in a less formal manner than ACP documentation.