Abstract: Nursing faculty across the United States were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of near-death experiences (NDEs) and deathbed visions (DBVs) through web-based administration of the Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire (Thornburg, 1988). Of the approximately 550 responses, 13% of respondents indicated that they personally had experiences an NDE, 48% that they have cared for a patient reporting an NDE, and 46% that they have cared for a patient reporting a DBV. Item-level ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the two attitude components of the survey, revealing a complex set of relationships between attitudes, experience, and other individual-level characteristics. The results underscore the importance of ongoing research into near-death phenomena and inclusion of NDEs and DBVs as content areas in nursing curriculum.

Abstract: This article reviews professional nursing's philosophical and professional mandates that direct nurses to acquire accurate knowledge and skills in order to care competently for near-death experiencers (NDErs). In addition, the article briefly describe the NDE phenomenon and aftereffects, discusses the author's NDEs in the professional context of her status as a nurse, and addresses the challenges NDErs encounters because of a lack of knowledge by nurses about NDEs. It concludes with a review of the current state of nursing education relevant to NDEs, suggestions for and resources available to faculty to create NDE curricula for nursing students, and continuing education opportunities for nurses and other medical professionals.

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.

Abstract: Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been recorded in the oral and written histories of virtually every culture since antiquity. Based on some of theses accounts, attempts have been made to investigate whether the phenomenology of the NDE is cross-culturally variable or similar. The present article contributes to this literature by analyzing the only known historical account of an NDE reported by a Maori individual. Although this account has been previously analyzed for its association with features typically reported in Western NDE accounts, it has been analyzed for its conformity to prevailing Maori beliefs about the afterlife. The analysis of this single case study suggests the NDE was influenced by cultural beliefs, which supports two converging viewpoint: that NDE phenomenology is universal but expressed in culturally-relative ways and that NDE phenomenology is culture-bound.