Study of nurses′ knowledge about palliative care: A quantitative cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Context:Studies have documented that nurses and other health care professionals are inadequately prepared to care for patients in palliative care. Several reasons have been identified including inadequacies in nursing education, absence of curriculum content related to pain management, and knowledge related to pain and palliative care.Aims:The objective of this paper was to assess the knowledge about palliative care amongst nursing professionals using the palliative care knowledge test (PCKT).Settings and Design:Cross-sectional survey of 363 nurses in a multispecialty hospital.Materials and Methods:The study utilized a self-report questionnaire- PCKT developed by Nakazawa et al., which had 20 items (statements about palliative care) for each of which the person had to indicate ‘correct’, ‘incorrect’, or ‘unsure.’ The PCKT had 5 subscales (philosophy- 2 items, pain- 6 items, dyspnea- 4 items, psychiatric problems- 4 items, and gastro-intestinal problems- 4 items).Statistical Analysis Used:Comparison across individual and professional variables for both dimensions were done using one-way ANOVA, and correlations were done using Karl-Pearson's co-efficient using SPSS version 16.0 for Windows.Results:The overall total score of PCKT was 7.16 ± 2.69 (35.8%). The philosophy score was 73 ± .65 (36.5%), pain score was 2.09 ± 1.19 (34.83%), dyspnea score was 1.13 ± .95 (28.25%), psychiatric problems score was 1.83 ± 1.02 (45.75%), and gastro-intestinal problems score was 1.36 ± .97 (34%). (P = .00). The female nurses scored higher than their male counterparts, but the difference was not significant (P > .05).Conclusions:Overall level of knowledge about palliative care was poor, and nurses had a greater knowledge about psychiatric problems and philosophy than the other aspects indicated in PCKT.

Communicating with patients and their families about palliative and end-of-life care: comfort and educational needs of nurses

“…Our review of the literature and our own experiences led us to postulate that inpatient staff nurses may not be prepared to provide optimal care to end of life (EOL) and palliative care patients and their families (Chan and Webster, 2011; Patel, Gorawara-Bhat, Levine, and Shega, 2012; Prem, Karvannan, Kumar et al, 2012; Agustinus, Wai Chi Chan, 2013). Palliative care patients can continue to seek curative treatments while evaluating their goals and care needs.…”

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Bonn Palliative Care Knowledge Test: an instrument to assess knowledge and self-efficacy

“…Studies have shown that there is a deficit of PC-related knowledge among health professionals (Prem et al, 2012). This raises the awareness for the need to improve the teaching of PC in undergraduate degrees.…”

“…The lack of incorporation of PC-related contents into the curricula of undergraduate degrees in the health area is a well-known fact (Al Qadire, 2014;WHO, 2015). The gaps identified in nursing degrees include topics such as management of pain and other symptoms, use of opiates and other specific medications, and management of side effects (Prem et al, 2012). In fact, there is a set of knowledge inherent to the proper treatment of people in PC that defies even the parameters established in evidence-based practice.…”

The Contribution of Healthcare Workers’ Knowledge on Use of Integrated Palliative Care Approach in the Management of Chronic and Life Threatening Diseases at Kakamega County Referral Hospital, Kenya

“…A study in India revealed that nurses and other health care professionals are inadequately prepared to provide pain management and palliative care for patients with chronic diseases as they only demonstrated a biomedical orientation to chronic pain rather than a behavioral one resulting in poor integration of palliative care [6].…”