Awareness of palliative care among diploma nursing students

Abstract

Background:The goal of palliative care is not to cure, but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains. The knowledge of nurses influences the quality of care provided to these patients. The present study aimed at identifying the level of knowledge and attitude of nursing students who are the future caretakers of patients, which helps to make recommendations in incorporating palliative care concepts in the nursing curriculum.Objectives:(1) To assess the level of knowledge of nursing students on palliative care; (2) To identify the attitude of nursing students towards palliative care; (3) To find the correlation between the knowledge and attitude of nursing students; (4) To find the association between nursing students’ knowledge, attitude and selected demographic variables.Materials and Methods:A correlative survey was carried out among 83 third-year Diploma Nursing students by using cluster sampling method from selected nursing schools of Udupi district.Results:The data analyzed showed that the majority (51%) of them was in the age group of 21years and 92% of them were females. Only 43.4% of them were aware of the term palliative care and it was during their training period. The data showed that 79.5% of students had poor knowledge (6.4± 1.64) on palliative care and 92.8% of them had favorable attitude (56.7± 8.5) towards palliative care. The chi-square showed a significant association between knowledge and age (χ2=18.52,P<0.01) of the nursing students.Conclusion:Palliative care aspects should be incorporated in the diploma nursing curriculum.

Assessment of Knowledge and Associated Factors towards Palliative Care among Greek Nurses

“…Similarly, Canning et al (2004) highlighted the importance of palliative care education for nurses, noting that more than half of a sample of nurses reported feeling unprepared for palliative care, with 63% disclosing a lack of opportunity for further study, and 44% reporting a lack of inservice training. Also, Karkada et al (2011) investigated palliative care knowledge among nursing students. Only 43.4% of them were aware of the term palliative care and it was during their training period.…”

“…A significant amount of literature has been devoted to assess the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards palliative care and have highlighted inadequacies in nurses' skills and knowledge in palliative care (Karkada et al, 2011;Rolandson et al, 2008;Bickel-Swenson, 2007;Canning et al, 2004;Becker, 2000;Farrell, 1998;McCaffery & Ferrell, 1997;Morgan, 1997). An important tool for assessing knowledge and attitudes towards palliative care is the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN).…”

Undergraduate Critical Care Nursing Students’ Knowledge And Attitudes Toward Caring Of Dying Patients

“…Abudari et al (2014) (47) and Dunn et al (2005) (40) revealed that most participants demonstrated a positive attitude about providing care for dying patients. Furthermore, Kassa et al (2014) (2) and , Karkada et al (2011) (48) demonstrated that (76% and 92.8% respectively) of the studied nurses had favorable attitude towards PC.…”

Awareness of palliative care medicine among medical and health care students

“…Role of physiotherapists and nurses is as important as palliative care physician for better outcome of palliative care. [7][8][9][10] Palliative medicine has become a medical specialty in UK and other European Countries in 1987 but it is still underdeveloped in a developing country like India.…”