Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice and associated factors towards palliative care among nurses working in selected hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Assessing the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Education-Practice-Competence Triad in Intensive Care Units: Content Validity, Feasibility, and Reliability of a New Tool

BACKGROUND

To date, a comprehensive, psychometrically robust instrument to assess palliative and end-of-life (PEOL) care education, practice, and perceived competence among intensive care unit (ICU) nurses does not exist.

OBJECTIVE

To examine content validity and reliability of a proposed instrument to assess the PEOL care education-practice- competence triad among ICU nurses.

METHODS

An international modified e-Delphi and a cross-sectional pilot questionnaire survey. The Delphi involved 23 panelists from 11 countries. The pilot study involved 40 staff nurses and 3 nurse managers from 3 adult ICUs in a randomly selected hospital in Egypt. An instrument was developed and judged for content validity by international panelists, and then pretested in a pilot study, where data were collected at 2 time points using self-administered questionnaires, followed by cognitive interviews. Test-retest reliability was examined using intraclass correlation (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and repeatability coefficient (RC).

RESULTS

The panelists confirmed content validity of the proposed instrument, and staff nurses confirmed its comprehensibility. At the level of the instrument's total scores, the lowest ICC was .9 (95% confidence interval: .8-.9); and the highest SEM and RC were 4.8 and 13.3, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The PEOL Care Index is a comprehensive, comprehensible, content valid, and reliable instrument to assess the PEOL care education-practice-competence triad among ICU nurses. Construct and criterion validities need to be confirmed in future studies. Applicability of the PEOL Care Index in different settings and cultures needs to be examined.

Effect of palliative care training on perceived self-efficacy of the nurses

Background

Nurses are involved in providing end-of-life care for end stage individuals and their self-efficacy is one of the key factors bearing on such care. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of palliative care on perceived self-efficacy of the nurses.

Methods

This is a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design. Sampling was randomized and included 40 individuals. The intervention consisted of palliative care training for four sessions, each lasting 45 min. Data were collected using demographic and perceived self-efficacy questionnaires completed before and after the intervention. Data were then analyzed by SPSS 16 software using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 38.6 and their work experience was 14.25 years. The majority of the participants were female (85%) and had a bachelor level of education (92.5%). The findings showed that “perceived self-efficacy”, “psychosocial support” and “symptom management” improved significantly after intervention (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Based on the results, palliative care education has the potential to increase nurses’ perceived self-efficacy. Since all members of the health care team Including nurses play an important role in providing palliative care, nursing managers can take an effective step to maximize the capacity of nurses by planning and supporting training in this regard.

Palliative care knowledge test for nurses and physicians: validation and cross-cultural adaptation

Background

Palliative care knowledge is essential in primary healthcare due to the increasing number of patients who require attention in the final stage of their life. Health professionals (physicians and nurses) need to acquire specific knowledge and abilities to provide high-quality palliative care. The development of education programmes in palliative care is necessary. The Palliative Care Knowledge Test (PCKT) is a questionnaire that evaluates the basic knowledge about palliative care, but it has not been adapted into Spanish, and its effectiveness and utility for Spanish culture have not been analysed.

Objective

The aim of this study was to report the translation into Spanish and a psychometric analysis of the PCKT.

Methods

The questionnaire survey was validated with a group of 561 physicians and nurses. The PCKT Spanish Version (PCKT-SV) was obtained from a process, including translation, back translation and revision by experts and a pilot study. The content validity and reliability of the questionnaire were analysed.

Results

The results showed internal consistency and reliability indexes similar to those obtained by the original version of PCKT.

Conclusion

The PCKT-SV is a useful instrument for measuring Spanish-speaking physician and nurse knowledge of palliative care, and it is suitable to evaluate the effectiveness of training activities in palliative care.

Assessment of knowledge and attitude towards palliative care and associated factors among nurses working in selected Tigray hospitals, northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Introduction

Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach which is focused on both the patient and their family. Therefore the objectives of the study is to assess the knowledge and attitude towards palliative care and its associated factors among nurses in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2018.

Methods

An institutional based cross-sectional quantitative study design was carried out using 355 nurses working in selected hospitals in Tigray region from February to March, 2018. Systematic random sampling was used to select six governmental hospitals. We used triangulation in the study method, making use of both Frommelt's Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale, and Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) knowledge. SPSS were applied for data entry and analysis. Statistical significance was declared at P<0.05. The goodness of fit the final logistic model was tested by using the Hosmer and Lemeshow test at a value of > 0.05.

Results

All the participants were able to respond. Out of the total study participants, 223 (62.8%) had good knowledge and 200 (56.3%) had a favorable attitude towards Palliative care. A medical ward had (AOR = 3.413, CI = 1.388-8.392, P = 0.019), trained Nurses [AOR = 3.488; CI = 1.735-7.015; P = 0.00) significant associated with nurses knowledge towards palliative care. Nurses working in the lemlem Karl (AOR=2.541; 95% CI; 0.013(1.106-5.835), nurses who had a 20-30 years ago had unfavorable attitude (AOR = 2.660; 95% CI; 0.002(1.386-5.106) were significant.

Conclusion

The nurses had poor knowledge. However, their attitude towards palliative care (PC) was favorable.

An Integrative Review on Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses Toward Palliative Care: Implications for Practice

To effectively participate in provision of palliative care, nurses need to possess a combination of knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes in equal measure in a way that is sensitive and meaningful and in a dynamic manner. The aim of this review was to examine nurses' knowledge and attitudes about palliative care, to identify gaps to improve care of patients and families facing death. An integrative review method guided this review. After implementation of a search strategy, data from 26 studies were analyzed and synthesized. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. Data were extracted using a common table, and themes were generated from the available peer-reviewed studies using narrative synthesis. Findings revealed knowledge deficit but favorable attitudes toward palliative care among nurses. Education and the clinical experience of nurses in palliative care influenced their knowledge and attitudes toward palliative care. There is a need for mandatory inclusion of basic palliative care content in nursing school curricula and more in-depth postgraduate curricula. In clinical practice, there is a need to reinforce palliative care education by creating expert nurse support networks to model excellence in palliative care.

Nurses practice towards palliative care in Shire Endasilasie health facilities, Northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Introduction

The public health strategy of the World Health Organization for palliative care is to increase access to palliative care services by integrating it with the healthcare systems. Therefore, the value of palliative care service provision by nurses who deliver the majority of care to chronical patients is an important issue. The objective of the study is assessing nurses' practice of palliative care.

Methods

A facility based cross-sectional study was carried out among 278 nurses working in governmental health facilities of Shire Endasilasie town, Tigray region, Ethiopia from February to June 2018. The questionnaire was revised based on the findings of the pre-test. The collected data was checked for its completeness, consistency, and accuracy before analysis. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22. The final result was reported using text and tables.

Results

A total of 278 nurses were included in the study and the response rate was 100%. The majority of the participants (71.9%) were females and the mean age of the respondents was 32.08 years (range from 20 to 60). Approximately two-thirds (74.8%) of the respondents had poor knowledge of palliative care practice. Half of the study participants reported emotional support gained as primary psychological support. Commonly used drugs for severe pain were paracetamol or ibuprofen 202 (72.2%) and 47.8% nurses focus on quality patient pain assess.

Conclusion

The majority of the nurses had a poor practice of palliative care.

Palliative care for people living with HIV/AIDS: Factors influencing healthcare workers' knowledge, attitude and practice in public health facilities, Abuja, Nigeria

Background

Physicians and nurses play vital roles in addressing palliative care (PC) needs of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The healthcare workers’ (HCWs) experiences determine the success of palliative care delivery. There is paucity of data on PC for PLWHA. For this reason, we assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of PC for PLWHA and associated factors among health care professionals.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study among HCWs in public health facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria between February and May, 2017. Multistage sampling technique with proportionate-to-size allocation was used to determine facility sample size and HCWs per professional discipline. Data were collected with questionnaires adapted from Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing, Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying and practical questions adapted from PC standard guidelines. Participants' knowledge, attitude and practice were assessed by awarding one (1) point for each correct answer; incorrect or “not sure” answers took a zero (0) score. Correct responses were summed up to get a total score for each participant. Descriptive statistics was done to describe frequencies and proportions displayed on tables. Linear regression was done to determine factors associated with HCW’s knowledge, attitude and practice of PC for PLWHA

Result

With a 100% response rate, the mean age of the 348 participants was 37.5 years (SD: ±8.9), 201 (57.8%) were female, 222 (63.8) were nurses and 230 (66.0%) had a work experience of 10 years or less. Majority of the participants, 310 (89.1%) agreed that palliative care focuses on the relief and prevention of suffering and 319 (91.7%) believe that PLWHA required palliative care. Misconceptions about palliative care include “palliative care is disease-oriented and not person oriented”, 252 (72.6%) believed; “palliative care is concerned with prolongation of life”, 279 (80.6%); and “use of placebos is appropriate in the treatment of some types of pain”, 252 (72.6%). Among the participants, 52% disagreed that “palliative care should be given only for dying PLWHA” while only 18 (5.2%) were right on “family should be involved in the physical care of the dying PLWHA”. Majority of the participants, 292 (84.1%) initiated palliative care discussion during patients’ diagnosis while 290 (83.6%) informed terminally ill patients about their diagnosis. Regarding psychological issues, 22 (6.3%) participants hid the truth from the patients while 196 (56.3%) provided emotional support to the patients. Morphine 240 (69.0%) and Pentazocine 194 (55.7%) were the most commonly used drugs for treatment of severe pain by participants across all centres.

Conclusion

In-service training and undergraduate training on palliative care were associated with knowledge and practice of palliative care for people living with HIV/AIDS. We recommended continuous quality in-service training and education on palliative care for HCWs. While we ensure voluntariness of participation and other ethical principles, the high response rate could be as a result of more motivated health worker than the norm. The results are unlikely to be representative of doctors and nurses in primary health care centres.

Development of a home-visit nursing scale for helping spousal caregivers of terminal cancer patients develop positive perspectives of their caregiving experiences: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

Home-visit nurses play a key role in supporting the spouses of terminal cancer patients and encouraging positive perspectives of the caregiving experience. This study aimed to develop a scale to support nurses in self-assessing their practice around this important role.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional questionnaire study.

SETTING

The Home Nursing Scale to Help Spousal Caregivers (HNS-HSC) questionnaire for self-assessment of home-visit nursing to spouses was developed based on interviews with spouses and literature reviews.

PARTICIPANTS

Overall, 1500 home-visit nurses nationwide who had experience in supporting spousal caregivers and their patients in the predeath and postdeath periods were approached for participation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Planned exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the underlying dimensions of the HNS-HSC; Cronbach's α was used to determine the reliability. The Japanese version of Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale Form B (FAT-COD-B-J) and Grief Care scale were administered to assess convergent and discriminant validity.

RESULTS

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified 26 items on five factors: 'helping spouses plan their futures' 'helping caregivers alleviate any regrets regarding their care', 'understanding the bond between a couple', 'providing support for anticipatory grief', and 'addressing spousal caregivers' emotions after their spouses' deaths'. The final model showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. The Cronbach's α for the entire scale was 0.949 and exceeded 0.822 for each factor. The correlation coefficient with the FAT-COD-B-J, which served as an external validation, was 0.35. The correlation coefficients for the three grief care scales were 0.64, 0.45 and 0.72, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This scale is a reliable and valid tool for visiting nurses to self-assess their knowledge, skills and practice around helping spousal caregivers. By using this scale, it is expected to change nursing practice in pursuit of improving quality of life of spouses.

Knowledge and Awareness of End-of-life Care among Doctors Working in Intensive Care Units at a Tertiary Care Center: A Questionnaire-based Study

INTRODUCTION

End-of-life care (EOLC) is an increasingly important concern in the management of terminally ill patients. Effective EOLC depends significantly on the physicians working in the critical care units. Thus, adequate knowledge of critical care professionals regarding EOLC is important. We conducted this study to evaluate the awareness and knowledge of doctors working in critical care units toward EOLC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Doctors working in critical care units were invited to fill paper-based questionnaire. The validated questionnaire was constructed based on the existing literature on EOLC and expert opinion. The questionnaire comprised four sections: demographic details, experience with EOLC situations, general awareness of EOLC, and specific awareness of EOLC in clinical practice. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive analysis.

RESULTS

Most respondents had not counseled more than five families regarding EOLC over 1 month. Majority of the respondents (81.7%) had heard of EOLC; the major source of information being their work in the concerned specialty. Only 29.2% of the respondents applied EOLC principles in their clinical practice. Main barriers were lack of information and training. Only 20.3% of the respondents were aware of Indian guidelines about EOLC. Majority of the respondents disagree regarding the usage of critical care units and resuscitation of terminally ill patients and were in favor of home care. One-third respondents felt uncomfortable in discussing EOLC issues with the families. Half of the respondents felt that they were only somewhat competent in managing EOLC issues. Most respondents opined that training and education in medical curriculum for terminally ill patients are lacking and were in strong favor of inclusion of specific training for the same.

CONCLUSION

The EOLC needs to be an integral part of critical care management and teaching curriculum. An integral referral system may also be an option for various advance disease patients getting treatment from critical care specialists for EOLC decision.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

Agrawal K, Garg R, Bhatnagar S. Knowledge and Awareness of End-of-life Care among Doctors Working in Intensive Care Units at a Tertiary Care Center: A Questionnaire-based Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2019;23(12):568-573.

Agreement of Nursing Home Staff With Palliative Care Principles: A PACE Cross-sectional Study Among Nurses and Care Assistants in Five European Countries

CONTEXT

To provide high-quality palliative care to nursing home residents, staff need to understand the basic principles of palliative care.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the extent of agreement with the basic principles of palliative care of nurses and care assistants working in nursing homes in five European countries and to identify correlates.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study in 214 homes in Belgium, England, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland. Agreement with basic principles of palliative care was measured with the Rotterdam MOVE2PC. We calculated percentages and odds ratios of agreement and an overall score between 0 (no agreement) and 5 (total agreement).

RESULTS

Most staff in all countries agreed that palliative care involves more than pain treatment (58% Poland to 82% Belgium) and includes spiritual care (62% Italy to 76% Belgium) and care for family or relatives (56% Italy to 92% Belgium). Between 51% (the Netherlands) and 64% (Belgium) correctly disagreed that palliative care should start in the last week of life and 24% (Belgium) to 53% (Poland) agreed that palliative care and intensive life-prolonging treatment can be combined. The overall agreement score ranged between 1.82 (Italy) and 3.36 (England). Older staff (0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.09-0.43, P = 0.003), nurses (0.59; 95% CI: 0.43-0.75, P < 0.001), and staff who had undertaken palliative care training scored higher (0.21; 95% CI: 0.08-0.34, P = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The level of agreement of nursing home staff with basic principles of palliative care was only moderate and differed between countries. Efforts to improve the understanding of basic palliative care are needed.

Associations among knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward palliative care consultation service in healthcare staffs: A cross-sectional study

Background

The palliative care consultation service (PCCS) of the National Health Insurance payments has been promoted in Taiwan since 2011, although few studies have been conducted on healthcare staffs’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding PCCS in Taiwan; consequently, the main objective of this study was to explore any correlations regarding the above by cross-sectional design using convenience sampling.

Methods

A total of 210 healthcare staff members were enrolled from a regional hospital from June 1, 2018, to September 30, 2018. Questionnaire items on the Palliative Care Consultation Service Inventory (KAP-PCCSI) were used to measure healthcare staff’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices of PCCS. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results

The results revealed that the mean scores for knowledge of and attitudes of KAP-PCCSI were 58.7 ± 8.9 (perfect score: 75) and 42.7 ± 4.7 (perfect score: 50) respectively, while the mean score for practices of KAP-PCCSI was 36.3 ± 8.1 (perfect score: 50); moreover, the healthcare staff’s knowledge and attitudes were positively correlated with their practices (p < 0.01). The results also showed that knowledge, attitudes, experience of having a family member(s) or friend(s) passing away, and being a medical personnel constituted the major predictors of practices (p < 0.001). These factors explained 43.2% of the overall variance for practices of KAP-PCCSI.

Conclusions

The findings can help healthcare staff understand factors influencing practices of KAP-PCCSI and can serve as a reference for the development of strategies for palliative care education and training while improving the care quality of patients undergoing such palliative care with terminal life considerations in the hospitals, thereby fulfilling the goal of achieving holistic care.

Knowledge, attitude and associated factors towards end of life care among nurses' working in Amhara Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Objective

The aim of this study was to assess nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude and Associated Factors towards end of life care in Amhara Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, 2017.

Results

A total of 331 participants were included with a response rate of 93.2%. From these, 129 (39.0%) of them had good knowledge and 234 (70.7%) had favorable attitude towards end of life care. Being Bachelor of Science holder and above in nursing (AOR = 4.261, 95% CI 1.524–11.912), working in Emergency department (AOR = 4.911, 95% CI 1.796–13.426), having daily experience of caring for chronically ill patients (AOR = 2.764, 95% CI 1.366–5.591) and taking training on end of life care (AOR = 10.269, 95% CI 4.730–22.296) were significantly associated with good knowledge of nurses towards end of life care. On the other hand, having 6–10 years of working experience in nursing (AOR = 2.199, 95% CI 1.147–4.215), being trained in end of life care (AOR = 3.027, 95% CI 1.285–7.13), Bachelor of Science holder and above in nursing (AOR = 4.414, 95% CI 2.230–8.738) were found to be statistically significant with more positive attitude of nurses towards end of life care.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4567-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Knowledge and Attitude Toward Geriatric Palliative Care among Health Professionals in Vietnam

This study assessed the knowledge and attitude toward palliative care for the elderly among health professionals in a tertiary geriatric hospital in Vietnam and explored their determinants. Cross-sectional data were obtained on 161 geriatric health professionals at the National Geriatric Hospital. Modified-Palliative Care Knowledge Test and Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying instruments were used to measure knowledge and attitude toward geriatric palliative care. As a result, 40.5% physicians and 74.2% nurses showed insufficient knowledge about geriatric palliative care (p < 0.05). The lowest score was for dyspnea, following by gastrointestinal and pain problems. No significant difference was found regarding the attitude between physicians and nurses (p > 0.05). Health professional category, age, and years of experience were found to be associated with knowledge about palliative care. Meanwhile, only knowledge score had correlations with total attitude score (Coef. = 0.2; 95%CI = 0.1–0.3), attitude toward patients (Coef. = 0.1; 95%CI = 0.0–0.1) and toward patients’ family (Coef. = 0.1; 95%CI = 0.0–0.1). This study highlights a significant knowledge gap and preferable attitude toward palliative care for the elderly among physicians and nurses in the geriatric hospital. Intensive training about geriatric palliative care, focusing on pain, dyspnea and gastrointestinal issue management, should be performed to ensure the quality of palliative care services, especially in nurses.

Development of palliative care attitude and knowledge (PCAK) questionnaire for physicians in Kuwait

Background

Over the past five decades, palliative care has changed from helping patients at the end of life into a highly dedicated service focused on delivering supportive care to patients with life-limiting illnesses throughout the disease trajectory. To date there is no common agreement on universally applicable measurement tool to know the areas of weakness in physicians’ understanding of palliative care and identifying misconceptions about palliative care. This paper describes the development of a reliable and valid questionnaire to provide a measure of the attitude and knowledge of physicians toward palliative care (PCAK).

Methods

Item pool was generated paying particular attention to content and face validity. The initial version of the questionnaire was piloted and assessed based on psychometric criteria. Items which did not reach acceptable validity were excluded, and the final 37 item version was administered to two groups differing in their palliative care attitude and knowledge on two occasions to assess the construct validity and test-retest reliability. Two hundred thirty two physicians working in primary care clinics and general hospitals completed the questionnaire at the piloting stage. The final version (PCAK) was administered to 35 oncologists and 76 physicians. SPSS v20 was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Of the Pilot study, 20 items were excluded because didn’t meet the criteria for item difficulty and discrimination. Item-to-total-score correlations (r) was ranging from 0.347 up to 0.806. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was high ranging from 0.636 to 0.824. While testing the final PCAK, oncologist scored consistently higher than the other physicians on all sections of the questionnaire (P < 0.001) suggesting good construct validity. Test to retest reliability for each section was very high, ranging from 0.879 to 0.97 and the overall reliability was 0.95. The internal consistency reliability of each section was very good ranging from 0.681 ± 0.893.

Conclusion

The findings demonstrate that PCAK meets psychometric criteria for reliability and construct validity. It provides a useful scale to assess the attitude and knowledge of physicians about palliative care helping in planning of educational programs for physicians.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12904-019-0430-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

O acompanhante do paciente oncológico em fase terminal: percepção do técnico de enfermagem

Objetivo: compreender a percepção dos técnicos de enfermagem em relação aos acompanhantes dos pacientes oncológicos em fase terminal.Metodologia: trata-se de uma pesquisa descritivo-exploratória de natureza qualitativa, desenvolvida em um hospital referência para o tratamento do câncer em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre os meses de setembro e outubro de 2016. Utilizou-se a Análise de Conteúdo fundamentada em Bardin para a avaliação das entrevistas.Resultados: a partir da análise das entrevistas, emergiram duas categorias empíricas: O conviver cotidiano do técnico de enfermagem e o acompanhante do paciente oncológico em fase terminal e Fatores dificultadores da interação da enfermagem com os acompanhantes, focando-se na interação dos profissionais com o acompanhante e os fatores de conflito entre as partes.Conclusão: foi evidenciada a importância do acompanhante pelo técnico de enfermagem nesse processo de terminalidade, na medida em que podem proporcionar segurança e acolhimento ao paciente. No entanto, a ausência de uma comunicação adequada entre os acompanhantes e o profissional foi o fator preponderante na geração de conflitos. A enfermagem requer, por parte da instituição assim como do acompanhante, de espaços nos quais possam expressar suas angústias e anseios, fazendo que esse percurso seja um momento de acolhimento e de criação de vínculos entre os envolvidos. 

Dataset on the nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice towards palliative care

When a patient enters the end stage of life threatening disease like cancer, treatment of pain and other symptoms must be considered to preserve quality of life (Gielen et al., 2011) [1]. Nurses have an important role in the care of patients who suffered from life threatening diseases. End of life cares is one of the routine activities of nurses (Gott et al., 2012) [2]. We surveyed knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses who worked in the hospitals of Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences towards palliative care from January 2016 to May 2016. A self-administered Persian questionnaire was used for data collection. The attitude scale was adopted from Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying (Frommelt, 1991) and the knowledge questions were adopted from the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (Ross et al., 1996). The practice questions were also adopted from different related studies. Data analysis was performed by SPSS Statistics software for windows version 16. Our study showed that majority of nurses had favorable attitude but poor knowledge and practice towards palliative care. The results emphasize the importance and need for developing palliative care services in our hospitals.

Utility of social networks and online data collection in nursing research: Analysis of Spanish nurses' level of knowledge about palliative care

INTRODUCTION

Internet-based social networks are used by nurses with different purposes, including the creation of working groups and to share and create knowledge.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the utility of social networks in the dissemination of an online questionnaire and to measure Spanish RNs' knowledge about palliative care.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out. Using social networks we distributed an online questionnaire with the Spanish version of Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses (PCQN-SV) throughout August 2015.

RESULTS

A direct relationship between the number of responses and the questionnaire's apparitions in each social network was found. Comparing the results obtained by the 446 RNs participating in this study with those obtained in the study to pilot the PCQN-SV we identify that differences found are related to the participants' features (years of experience and hours of training in palliative care) and not to the type of questionnaire they answered.

CONCLUSIONS

Social networks have shown to be a useful tool for nursing research by its ability, to recruit participants as well as to collect data, so their role as an instrument of research should be considered.

Palliative care for advanced dementia: Knowledge and attitudes of long-term care staff

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To investigate the knowledge of and attitudes towards palliative care for advanced dementia and their associations with demographics among nursing staff, including nurses and nursing assistants, in long-term care settings.

BACKGROUND

Nursing facilities are places where persons with dementia die; therefore, providing quality end-of-life care to residents with advanced dementia is crucial. To date, little attention has been paid to palliative care practice for patients with advanced dementia.

DESIGN

A descriptive, cross-sectional, survey design was used.

METHODS

In total, a sample of 300 nurses (n = 125) and nursing assistants (n = 175) working in long-term care settings in Taiwan participated in this study. Two instruments were administered: demographic characteristics and responses to the Questionnaire of Palliative Care for Advanced Dementia. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, the nurses and nursing assistants had moderate mean scores for both knowledge of and attitudes regarding palliative care for advanced dementia. Additionally, nursing staff who were nurses with greater work experience and those who had received palliative care and hospice training had greater knowledge of palliative care. In addition, nursing staff who had received dementia care training and who had worked in nursing homes had higher levels of positive attitudes towards palliative care.

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicates the need to provide nurses and nursing assistants with more information about palliative care practice for people with advanced dementia. Particularly, providing education to those who are nursing assistants, who have less working experience, who have not received palliative and dementia care training, and who have not worked in nursing homes can improve overall nursing staff knowledge of and attitudes towards palliative care.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Continuing education in principles of palliative care for advanced dementia is necessary for currently practicing nursing staff and should be developed according to their educational background and needs.

Assessment of Palliative Care Awareness among Undergraduate Healthcare Students

Introduction

Palliative care knowledge is being given meager importance in the curriculum of medical and other allied medical sciences. It is vital that all health care practitioners including medical, pharmacy, physiotherapy and nursing are aware and apply the best principles of palliative care.

Aim

To assess the awareness of palliative care among undergraduate students of medical, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy.

Materials and Methods

The study population included total of 200 students. Among 200 students, 50 were from each of the colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy. After obtaining informed consent, questionnaire was given. The questionnaire contained the sociodemographic profile and 35 statements under nine groups, for which the respondents were expected to answer one out of the three options (Yes, No, Don't know). The groups of statements deal with palliative care definition, its philosophy, communication issues, non-pain symptoms, medications use and context of application of palliative care.

Results

It was found that less than 20% of nursing students were unaware of palliative care. Among the undergraduates of college of pharmacy, more than 50% had no knowledge of palliative care. More than 80% of physiotherapy, nursing and medical students agree that death should occur without any pain or symptoms. The need of palliative care was well understood by more than 70% of students of physiotherapy, pharmacy, nursing and medical colleges.

Conclusion

Basic knowledge about palliative care was inadequate among the undergraduate students related to healthcare.

Path modeling of knowledge, attitude and practice toward palliative care consultation service among Taiwanese nursing staff: a cross-sectional study

Background

The Taiwanese government has promoted palliative care consultation services (PCCS) to support terminally ill patients in acute ward settings to receive palliative care since 2005. Such an intervention can enhance the quality of life and dignity of terminally ill patients. However, research focusing on the relationship between the knowledge, attitude and practice of a PCCS using path modelling in nursing staff is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of path modeling on the knowledge, attitude and practice toward PCCS in Taiwanese nursing staff.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study design using convenience sampling. Data collected included demographics, knowledge, attitude and practice as measured by the PCCS inventory (KAP-PCCSI). Two hundred and eighty-four nursing staff from a medical center in northern Taiwan participated in the study in 2013. We performed descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and path modeling using SPSS 19.0 and set p < 0.05 as the statistical significance threshold.

Results

The results showed that the identical factor significantly associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice toward PCCS among nurses was the frequency of contact with PCCS. In addition, higher level of knowledge toward PCCS was associated with working in haematology and oncology wards, and participation in education related to palliative care. A more positive attitude toward PCCS was associated with working in a haematology and oncology ward, and experience of friends or relatives dying. Higher level of practice toward PCCS was associated with nurses who participated in education related to palliative care. In the path modeling, we found that holders of a master’s degree indirectly positive affected practice toward PCCS. Possession of a bachelor degree or above, being single, working within a haematology and oncology ward, and frequency of contact with PCCS positively affected practice toward PCCS.

Conclusions

Based on this study, it is proposed that consultation with PCCS has a positive impact on the care of terminally ill patients. Encouragement of staff to undertake further education can improve the practice of ward staff providing palliative care.

Knowledge and factors associated with pain management for hospitalized children among nurses working in public hospitals in Mekelle City, North Ethiopia: cross sectional study

Background

American Nurses Association reflects, the role of the nurse in pain management encompasses the entire nursing process, assessment of pain, plans pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain management strategies, implements the plan, and evaluates the response of the patient to the interventions. Pediatric pain management has been left largely unaddressed due to factors like limited resources, inadequate training, as well as cultural diversity and language barriers which made sick and injured children not to receive basic pain care. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and factors associated with pain management for hospitalized children among nurses.

Design

Institution based cross-sectional study was employed from a total of 261 nurses in Public Hospitals of Mekelle City from March 15 to April 15, 2015. Systematic random sampling method was used to get the study subjects. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data was cleared, categorized, and coded. The cleaned data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20 software with statistical significance p < .05 at 95% CI. Descriptive statistics was employed. Binary logistic regressions were used to see relationship between dependent and independent variables.

Results

Out of 251 participants more than half (58.6%) of nurses had adequate knowledge and had good practice 140 (55.8%). Those respondents who said yes sedation interfering with pain assessment were 2.7 more likely knowledgeable on pain management for hospitalized children than others. In addition to this those nurses who said they had a specific pain management protocol in their institution were 2.159 more likely knowledgeable than others.

Conclusions

Majority of nurses were knowledgeable on some of pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain managements. Most of the nurses had a good practice on children pain managements. Reading guide lines, specific protocols, knowledge, charting area for pain, sedation interfering with pain assessment and working in pediatric ward were some of the factors that were significantly associated with children’s pain management.

Spanish Adaptation of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD-S) in Nursing Undergraduates

The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) is designed to assess the attitudes of professionals and trainees toward caring for the dying patient and their family members. In this study the main aim is to adapt the FATCOD to a Spanish context (FATCOD-S). In addition, the relations between FATCOD-S, sociodemographic variables, emotional intelligence, and death attitudes have been analyzed. A sample of 669 Spanish nursing students from four Universities responded to a questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) concludes a structure composed of two significant factors. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out. The CFA supported a two-factor model. Students with past experience of death and those who had received training in palliative care scored significantly higher on both factors of the FATCOD-S ( p < 0.01). The FATCOD-S is an effective and valid tool for measuring the attitudes of Spanish nursing students toward caring for patients at the end of life.

Effective pain management as part of palliative care for persons living with HIV/AIDS in a developing country: a qualitative study

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this research was to explore and understand nurses' experiences of managing pain for persons living with human immune virus/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome receiving palliative care at home in Botswana.

BACKGROUND

Community palliative and hospice care in Africa and Botswana were developed for persons with end-stage acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other terminal illnesses being cared for at home. As antiretro viral therapies extend the lives of persons living with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndromes, there is an increase in the chronic conditions associated with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Despite a strong demand for care of persons living with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndromes and other chronic illnesses, little is known about Botswanan community nurses' capacity to manage community-based end-of-life care for persons living with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndromes.

DESIGN

A qualitative study approach guided by van Manen's interpretive analysis was undertaken.

METHODS

Data were collected using semi-structured interviews that were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using qualitative interpretive analysis. Thirteen nurses from 12 health districts in Botswana were recruited to the study using purposeful sampling.

RESULTS

Participants identified that pain management was a significant issue. A lack of nurses' ability to advocate effectively for patients because of a lack of relevant skills and knowledge and poor availability of appropriate analgesics was a limiting factor along with doctors' reluctance to prescribe opioids to effectively manage pain.

CONCLUSION

Lack of resources coupled with lack of training for nurses has a negative impact on palliative care and the delivery of care services to persons living with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndromes in Botswana.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Being attentive and listening to the nurses' voices in the provision of palliative care at home is an essential element in identifying the challenges they encounter. Lack of adequate palliative care training and a chronic shortage of resources have serious implications for the delivery of home-based palliative care in Botswana.

Caring for dying patients: attitude of nursing students and effects of education

Background:

Education about caring for dying patients could be effective in changing nursing students’ attitude toward caring for dying patients.

Aim:

The aim of the present study was to examine the nursing students’ attitude toward caring for dying patients and effects of education on their attitude.

Materials and Methods:

The present study enjoys a quasi-experimental method with using one-group pre-test/post-test design conducted in Bam in southeast of Iran. The attitude of nursing students was measured using Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale before and after an educational intervention. Data were analyzed using non-parametric tests in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 18 software.

Results:

Of 32 students, 30 participated in this study (response rate of 94%). Only 20% of the students reported previous experience of dying patients in their clinical courses. Students showed moderately negative to neutral attitudes toward caring for dying patients. Education has improved students’ attitude significantly (mean score of FATCOD before study were 3.5 ± 0.43 and after intervention were 4.7 ± 0.33) (P < 0.001).

Conclusion:

Educational programs about death and caring for dying patients should be added to undergraduate nursing curricula. Further research recommended examining nursing students’ knowledge about caring for dying patients and the effect of education on their knowledge.