Do Nurses Have Enough Knowledge in Neurological Diseases in Palliative Care?
Abstract
Objective: The number of neurodegenerative diseases increases with the increasing number of the elderly in the community, and palliative care nursing for these patients and training programs for palliative care nursing gain more importance. This study was carried out to evaluate the knowledge of nurses about palliative care and neurological diseases.
Material and Methods: 41 nurses with at least 6 months of experience working in a palliative care center were included in the study. The ages, sexes, work experiences, palliative care experiences, educational statuses and whether they had received palliative care courses were recorded. The questionnaire had 20 questions about palliative care and neurological diseases.
Results: The average age of the nurses included in the study was 40.73 and 70.7% were female. The mean work experience was 18 years and the education level of 48.8% was a bachelor's degree. 46.3% of the nurses had 5 years or more palliative care experience, 51.2% of them had taken a palliative care course. While the ages, sexes, education levels and work experiences of the nurses did not affect the study results, we found that those with palliative care experience and those who took palliative care courses gave more accurate answers to the questions on neurological diseases (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Determining the level of knowledge and current deficiencies of palliative care nurses is important both in terms of preparing appropriate training programs and improving the quality of palliative care provided to patients.
Keywords
Palliative care , Nurses , Palliative care knowledge , Neurology
Kaynakça
- 1. Provinciali L, Carlini G, Tarquini D, Defanti CA, Veronese S, Pucci E. Need for palliative care for neurological diseases. Neurol Sci. 2016;37(10):1581-7.
- 2. Sanderson C, Tieman J. CareSearch-online palliative care information for GPs. Aust Family Physician. 2010;39:341-3.
- 3. Lorenzl S, Nübling G, Perrar KM, Voltz R. Palliative treatment of chronic neurologic disorders. Handb Clin Neurol. 2013;118:133-9.
- 4. Egan KA, Abbott P. Interdisciplinary team training- preparing new employees for the specialty of hospice and palliative care. J Hosp Palliat Nurs. 2002;4:161–71 5. Skår R. Knowledge use in nursing practice: The importance of practical understanding and personal involvement. Nurse Educ Today. 2010;30:132–6.
- 6. De Vlieger M, Gorchs N, Lankin PJ, Porschet F. Palliative nurse education towards a common language. Palliative Medicine.2004;18(5):401-3.
- 7. Chover-Sierra E, Martínez-Sabater A, Lapeña-Moñux YR. An instrument to measure nurse’ knowledge in palliative care: Validation of the Spanish version of Palliative Care Quiz For Nurses. PLoS One. 2017;18:12(5):e0177000.
- 8. Crossetti Mda G. Production of knowledge and the quality of nursing practice. Rev Gaucha Enferm. 2009;30:372–4.
- 9. Kwekkeboom KL, Vahl C, Eland J. Impact of a volunteer companion program on nursing students’ knowledge and concerns related to palliative care. J Palliat Med. 2006;9:90–9.
- 10. Kumar SP, Jim A, Sisodia V. Effects of palliative care training program on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and experiences among student physiotherapists: A preliminary quasi-experimental study. Indian J Palliat Care. 2011;17:47–53.
- 11. Fabrigar L, Petty R, Smith S, Crites S. Understanding knowledge effects on attitude–behavior consistency: The role of relevance, complexity, and amount of knowledge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.2006;90(4):556–77.