Knowledge of Palliative Care in Ecuador

Abstract

Palliative care is a holistic approach to care for people with chronic, advanced, and life-threatening illnesses. It improves the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. However, there is still limited access to palliative care in many countries. Knowledge about palliative care is key to increase its availability. Thus, this article aimed to explore the knowledge of the general population about palliative care in Ecuador. The study had a descriptive cross-sectional design. Through snowball sampling, between September 2019 and January 2020, 257 people completed an anonymous online questionnaire about general and specific aspects of palliative care. Descriptive and ANOVA analyses indicate that people have many misconceptions about palliative care and how it should be provided. Gender, education, training, occupation, and experience as caregivers were related to the total level of knowledge about palliative care. Regression analyses show other variables as predictors of knowledge. This study highlights the lack of knowledge about specific issues within palliative care in the general population in Ecuador. It also shows the need to develop and implement education measures to fill these gaps and enhance access to palliative care in health systems.

Hospital-based evaluation of palliative care among patients with advanced cervical cancer: a cross-sectional study

“…Knowledge about palliative care varies with different factors, including educational status, age, gender, palliative care training, caregiver experience, and profession [ 26 ]. A study conducted in Ecuador showed that 79% of the general population had heard about palliative care; the knowledge varied by education, palliative care training, health-related occupation, and gender [ 27 ]. However, a study on the general population of Northern Ireland showed that only 20% knew the accurate term, “palliative care” [ 26 ].…”

Implementation and Knowledge of the Clinical Practice Guide for Palliative Care in the Ecuadorian Primary Care Level

“…Usually, one of the main causes of insufficient implementation is lack of knowledge about their existence [ 10 , 19 ]; however, not only their knowledge by the health professionals involved must be weighted, but also receiving training on how to implement them and that access to the necessary resources is ensured. The fact that the participants possess little training in PC is an expected result, as other authors have acknowledged that, in the Ecuadorian context, training is still limited, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, thus translating into low identification of individuals in need of this type of care and highlighting the need to maintain continuing education [ 10 , 11 , 20 ]. It is necessary to develop a specific training program on palliative care, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels for nurses and physicians, in order to optimize the care provided [ 21 ].…”

“…In relation to the training of future health professionals, although inclusion of the PC component in the Health Sciences courses is mandatory, previous studies have found that it is still necessary to advance in training, as a number of knowledge gaps have been identified [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Nursing care in patients with terminal cancer in the palliative care unit during the pandemic, nursing perspectives

“…De igual forma, Da Conceição et al (22) en su estudio identificaron que solo un pequeño porcentaje de profesionales sanitarios presentaron un conocimiento adecuado sobre los cuidados paliativos, evidenciando la formación deficiente que existe aún sobre este tema, destacando que no basta únicamente las buenas intenciones, resulta necesario una formación médica adecuada. Por el contrario, se integra el estudio de Hidalgo et al (23) que describe la falta de conocimiento sobre los cuidados paliativos en la población general de Ecuador, lo cual coincide con las preocupaciones expresadas en las entrevistas sobre la falta de tiempo y recursos para proporcionar cuidados paliativos completos, así como la falta de un programa exclusivo de cuidados paliativos en el hospital.…”