Bridging the gap in death education: a qualitative exploration of healthcare professionals’ needs in geriatric oncology in China

Death education is an integral component of high-quality end-of-life care, helping healthcare professionals and patients confront death appropriately and improving the quality of end-of-life communication. However, the lack of systematic death education for healthcare professionals in China leads them to avoid discussing death in clinical practice and contributes to burnout, thereby compromising the effectiveness of end-of-life care. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative study to explore the perceived needs of healthcare professionals in geriatric oncology in China regarding death education. We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study. We purposively recruited 18 healthcare professionals from three tertiary Grade-A hospitals in China and conducted semi-structured interviews with them. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. The study identified three themes: (1) Insufficient awareness of death education among healthcare professionals; (2) Competency gaps and training needs; (3) Systemic barriers and resource deficits. This study suggests that death education should be a core, context-specific part of geriatric oncology care in China. The need goes beyond competence supplementation, highlighting limitations in existing education and support systems. Addressing this may require shifting care models to incorporate standardised, culturally sensitive death education into routine practice, bridging competence gaps and empowering nursing teams to ultimately enhance professionals’ end-of-life care competence.