Palliative and End-of-Life Care Education Needs of Nurses Across Inpatient Care Settings

Abstract

The results provide guidance for development of palliative and EOL care nursing education programs tailored to address specific unit needs according to staff characteristics, patient population focus of care, and acuity level of care. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(7):329-336.

Instruments for assessing nurses’ palliative care knowledge and skills in specialised care setting: An integrative review

“…The patient's involvement in his or her own care included two subcategories: supporting the patient's decision‐making and supporting the patient in managing his or her daily life. Supporting the patient's decision‐making meant communicating with the patient, discussing the patient's care, giving reliable information about the patient's possibility of participating in the decision‐making process and making informed decisions regarding the patient's care (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Ly et al, ; Price et al, ). Supporting the patient in managing their daily life involved an assessment of the needs of the patient as well as helping the patient to maintain his or her independence in the activities of daily living (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Ly et al, ; Slatten, Hatlevik, & Fagerstrom, ).…”

“…Psychosocial support was divided into two subcategories: identifying patients’ psychosocial needs and supporting the patient in coping with a life‐limiting illness. The nurse's competence in the identification of the psychosocial needs of the patient included an ability to assess the emotional distress a patient experiences and, second, to recognise and understand the patient's grief and sorrow (Kim et al, ; Autor, Storey, & Ziemba‐Davis, ; Kim & Hwang, ; Iranmanesh et al, ; Price et al, ; Schnell‐Hoehn et al, ). Supporting the patient in coping with a life‐limiting illness meant that the nurse had to have the necessary skills to assist the patient in meeting their social needs, promote communication between family members (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Ly et al, ) and also provide care such that the patient and his or her family are able to identify resources to cope with the distress and bereavement the illness causes (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Ly et al, ; Price et al, ; Montagnini et al, ).…”

“…Spirituality included two subcategories: assessing and recognising patients’ spiritual needs and dealing with the spiritual perspectives of the patient. Spirituality included nurses’ skills in assessing and recognising the patient's spiritual needs and distress during the dying process, and the nurses’ capability in dealing with spiritual and religious perspectives as an element of care (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Ly et al, ; Price et al, ; Montagnini et al, ; Feder et al, ).…”

“…The cultural aspects of care included two subcategories: identifying cultural needs and considering the cultural aspects of the patient's care. Cultural aspects included nurses’ knowledge of cultural factors that affect the patient's care and their ability to support the patient in maintaining cultural traditions at the time of death (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Lazenby et al, ; Ly et al, ; Price et al, ; Feder et al, ; Montagnini et al, ).…”

“…Management of the physical symptoms consisted of four different subcategories: treatment of respiratory symptoms, treatment of gastrointestinal symptoms, pain evaluation and pain management. The knowledge and skills concerning the treatment of respiratory symptoms were mainly management of dyspnoea and the ability to treat agonal respiration (Nakazawa et al, , ; Desbiens & Fillion, ; Sato et al, ; Ly et al, ; Shimizu et al, ; Price et al, ). Gastrointestinal symptom management included care for dryness of the mouth and the treatment of nausea, vomiting and constipation (Desbiens & Fillion, ; Slatten et al, ; Price et al, ).…”