Prioritizing Palliative Care: Assess Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum, knowledge and Attitude among Nurses Caring End-of-Life Patients

Abstract

Palliative Care (PC) education and awareness is considered by Saudi Arabia health care system, as a matter of high priority and understanding the experiences of intensive care nurses in providing care at the end of is an important first step for improving terminal care in the intensive care unit Objectives: to identify nurses' attitude, knowledge and experiences on prioritizing palliative care and assess adequacy of the palliative care content in the undergraduate nursing curriculum from teaching members' perspectives. Methods: A cross sectional quantitative survey study was conducted on 100 nurses working in selected hospitals in Taif City and faculty members in Nursing Department, Taif University. Results: Above half of nurses had poor knowledge regarding palliative care, but most of them showed positive attitude regarding end-of-life care especially above diploma degree holders. While most of the content of End-Of-Life (EOL) care in nursing educational program was perceived by faculty members as inadequate and they agreed on the importance of EOL as a part of nursing curriculum. They also perceived that the greatest barriers for improving EOL care were Inadequate content, No special training for end of life, and No special governmental hospital Conclusions: most of nurse participants' highly prioritizing need for PC training. Where reviewing for the undergraduate nursing programs regarding PC and bridging the inadequacy are mandatory Recommendations: Attention should be given towards PC by the national health policy and incorporated in the national curriculum of nurse education and training. Key wards: Quality of Nursing Interventions, Palliative care, End-of-Life Care.