Pharmacy Students' Attitudes Toward Death and End-of-life Care

Abstract

Objectives. To assess pharmacy students' attitudes toward death and end-of-life care. Methods. Third-year pharmacy students enrolled in the Ethics in Christianity and Health Care course were administered a survey instrument prior to introduction of the topic of end-of-life care. Students' attitudes toward different professions' roles in end-of-life care and their comfort in discussing end-oflife issues were assessed. The survey instrument was readministered to the same students at the end of their fourth year. Results. On most survey items, female students responded more favorably toward death and end-of-life care than male students. One exception was the perceived emotional ability to be in the room of a dying patient or loved one. Post-experiential survey responses were generally more favorable toward death and end-of-life care than were pre-discussion responses. Conclusions. In general, when surveyed concerning death and end-of-life care, female students responded more favorably than male students, and responses at the end of the fourth year were more favorable than at the beginning of the course.

Use of High-Fidelity Simulation to Teach End-of-Life Care to Pharmacy Students in an Interdisciplinary Course

“…In a literature search of endof-life education specifically for pharmacy students, only 3 articles were found. [14][15][16] Simulation could enable the discussion of death and dying, a subject that health professions students may not encounter in their clinical practice experiences. Other factors that limit discussion of death and dying are lack of comfort on the part of staff or faculty members in letting students provide this specialized care to real patients and student discomfort with or even fear of death-related experiences.…”

The attitude of medical students toward death: A cross-sectional study in Rafsanjan

“…Death is an important part of human life, and human life alone is a process that changes over time in various forms. [ 1 ] Thinking about death has played an important role in human's life from the beginning of human civilization, and since the beginning of recorded human history, truth of death and human limitations in this area became a strong and shocking concern. [ 2 ]…”

“…The medical community is faced with death and dying more than other people, but still talking about it even in training health-care workers is low. [ 1 ] Attitude toward death is one of the most important factors that will influence the behavior of health-care professionals. [ 7 ]…”

Evaluation of a Video-Based Seminar to Raise Health Care Professionals' Awareness of Culturally Sensitive End-of-Life Care

“…A pre-and post-test was done using Kirkpatrick's levels 13 to evaluate reaction and learning. Pre-and post-test questionnaire content validation 14,15 was done using field testing, and from a total of 19 questions, 16,17 the final preand post-test questionnaire included 14 items. Full evaluation tool is available on request, but in short, participant attitudes were explored using seven pretest and post-test questions to assess HCPs' openness to discuss EOL issues with culturally diverse patients.…”