Teaching nurses to teach: A qualitative study of nurses' perceptions of the impact of education and skills training to prepare them to teach end-of-life care

Core components of end-of-life care in nursing education programs: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

So far, there have been many studies on end-of-life nursing care education around the world, and in many cases, according to the cultural, social, and spiritual contexts of each country, the results have been different. The present study intends to gain general insight into the main components of end-of-life care in nursing education programs by reviewing scientific texts and the results of investigations.

METHODS

This study was a scoping review conducted with the Arksey and O'Malley methodology updated by Peters et al. First, a search was made in Wos, ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Research Gate, and Google Scholar databases to find studies about end-of-life care education programs. Then, the screening of the found studies was done in four stages, and the final articles were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the studies. Due to the nature of the research, editorials, letters, and commentaries were excluded. The screening steps are shown in the PRISMA-ScR diagram.

RESULTS

23 articles related to end-of-life care education programs were reviewed. The studies included eleven descriptive and cross-sectional studies, two qualitative studies, eight interventional studies, one concept analysis article, and one longitudinal study. By summarizing the data from the studies, six themes were obtained as the main components of end-of-life care education: principles of end-of-life care, communication skills, physical considerations, psychosocial and spiritual considerations, ethical considerations, and after-death care.

CONCLUSION

End-of-life care is one of the most challenging nursing care in the world. Since many nurses are not prepared to provide such care, the information obtained from this review can help nursing education and treatment managers develop more comprehensive training programs to improve the quality of end-of-life care.

Educational intervention in social skills for Primary Care nurses

OBJECTIVE

to assess an educational intervention on social skills for nurses who work in Primary Health Care.

METHOD

a qualitative research-intervention study, carried out in the municipalities covered by the 17th Health Regional of Paraná. It was developed in three interrelated stages: exploratory, where meetings were held with the managers to define the groups and logistics for running the course; intermediate, developed in meetings with different groups of nurses, addressing selected topics; assessment, in which the nurses developed a personal plan to improve their social skills.

RESULTS

participants were 57 nurses who acted as coordinators of Primary Care. They considered the educational intervention in social skills fundamental for positive changes in their professional performance.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

the educational intervention in social skills was assessed as an important strategy to strengthen the development of nurses' managerial and care skills.

Death, dying and caring: exploring the student nurse experience of palliative and end-of-life education

BACKGROUND

Undergraduate education and training are fundamental in preparing student nurses for working in palliative and end-of-life care.

AIM

This article explores the experiences of student nurses in their palliative and end-of-life undergraduate nurse education.

METHODOLOGY

Sandelowski and Barroso's (2007) framework for undertaking a metasynthesis was used. Initial database searches returned 60 articles of interest. Re-reading the articles in the context of the research question identified 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Four key themes emerged.

FINDINGS

Student nurses voiced concerns regarding their feelings of unpreparedness, and lack of confidence and knowledge when dealing with the complexities of palliative and end-of-life care. Student nurses called for more training and education in palliative and end-of-life care.

CONCLUSION

Flexible nursing curricula responsive to the needs of student nurses and the changing landscape of healthcare provision, including care to ensure a good death experience, should be prioritised at undergraduate level.

Educational needs of nursing home staff: does a needs-based palliative care course make a difference?

OBJECTIVE

In Singapore, more elderly are living in nursing homes (NHs), with a resultant increase in deaths occurring in NHs. However, palliative care training is limited in Singapore's core nursing curriculum, and many NHs rely on foreign-trained staff who may not have previous palliative care training. Our study aimed to evaluate whether a needs-based course can improve the palliative care knowledge and attitudes of NH nurses in Singapore.

METHODS

Twenty-five nurses participated in the study. The intervention was an 8-week palliative care course developed based on needs assessment and led by a multidisciplinary faculty. A 50-item knowledge test was administered at baseline and 0 day and 3 and 6 months postcourse. Semistructured interviews were conducted at 3 months to assess for changes in attitudes and nursing practices.

RESULTS

The mean knowledge score increased significantly from 31.4 (±4.4) precourse to 35.1 (±5.1) at 3 months. Knowledge scores in end-of-life care increased up to 6 months, and scores for pain and symptom management increased significantly at 3 months. Participants reported a positive change with improved communication skills and increased compassion. There was a lack of opportunities to apply some new knowledge and skills due to regulations and perceived residents' preferences to engage more local senior staff.

CONCLUSION

The multidisciplinary needs-based palliative care course using various teaching modalities with follow-up knowledge tests helped to increase knowledge and improve communication skills and attitudes of NH nurses towards palliative care. The increase in knowledge and positive change in attitudes was noted to be sustained for at least 3 months postcourse.

Factors Associated with Behaviors Toward End-of-life Care Among Chinese Oncology Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

PURPOSE

The goal of this study was to describe the current status of oncology nurses' behaviors toward end of life (EOL) care in China and to explore the factors associated with oncology nurses' behaviors toward EOL care.

METHODS

A cross-sectional design was applied and a convenience sample of 1038 oncology nurses from 22 grade A hospitals were recruited into this study. A general social demographic data questionnaire was administered, and the Chinese version of Nurses' Behaviors of Caring for Dying Patients Scale was used to assess nurse behavior toward EOL care. The total score ranges from 40 to 200 points. Data were analyzed with SPSS 26.0 software.

RESULTS

Chinese oncology nurses' average score of holistic EOL care behaviors was 2.97 ± 0.59. Oncology nurses provide physical care most (3.81 ± 0.76), followed by family care (3.02 ± 0.86), and spiritual care (2.37 ± 0.67). Multiple regression analysis showed that a higher frequency of sharing EOL care experience with colleagues, in-service palliative care education, higher level of head nurse support for EOL patient care, more cases of EOL care, higher working position, and nurse's perceived high level of support were positively associated with behavior toward EOL care. These six factors explained 16.2% of the total variance.

CONCLUSIONS

The results may help provide a basis for converting behavior for EOL care among oncology nurses and design interventions to better improve quality of life for EOL patients with cancer in China.

Teaching nurses to teach: A qualitative study of nurses' perceptions of the impact of education and skills training to prepare them to teach end-of-life care

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore nurses' perceptions of the impact of a programme designed to train them to teach end-of-life care.

BACKGROUND

Central to national and international policies are the need for generalist healthcare staff to have education in end-of-life care. Much end-of-life care education is provided by specialist nurses who often have no specific education development to prepare them to teach. To address this gap, an Education Development Programme (EDP) was developed and delivered to specialist nurses. We report on the evaluation of the programme.

DESIGN

A qualitative programme evaluation methodology was adopted.

METHODS

Data were collected through focus groups, at three hospice education centres in North West England, with a total of 20 participants. Nurses who had completed the EDP were purposively sampled. Data were digitally audio-recorded and subjected to thematic analysis to organise, reduce and refine the data. Ethical approval was obtained. COREQ guidelines have been adhered to in the reporting of this study.

RESULTS

Two main themes were identified; learning to teach and building skills to change teaching practice. Participants felt more confident and better prepared to teach.

CONCLUSIONS

It cannot be assumed that specialist staff, with teaching in their role, have the skills to facilitate learning. This programme offers a potential method of improving facilitation skills for nurses who have an education element to their role.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Quality end-of-life care is only possible with a skilled workforce, confident and able to apply the principles of compassionate end-of-life care to everyday practice. Appropriately trained, specialist staff are better able to teach others how to deliver good quality end-of-life care. Specialist staff with teaching responsibilities should be provided with, or engage in, continuous professional development to develop their skills and improve their efficacy when teaching.