Impact of Palliative Care Educational Program on Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitudes toward Care of Dying Patients

Abstract

Background:-The need for palliative care is fast increasing as the population ages increase, particularly amongst those who with non-cancer diagnoses and with the numbers of people aged 85 or over. The aim of this study: - This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a palliative care educational program on nursing students' knowledge and attitudes toward care of dying patients. Materials and methods: - Quasi experimental design was utilized. A representative sample of 40% from nursing students who enrolled in second, third and fourth year study at the faculty of nursing. Tools of data collection: Data of the study was collected through utilizing the following two tools: Tool (I): Structured Interview Questionnaire: -It was consisted of two parts: Part (1): Socio-demographic characteristics of the students. Part (2): Knowledge Questionnaire Sheet about palliative care. Tool (II): From melt’s attitude toward care of the dying (FATCOD) scale. Results: - the majority of second and third year students had no previous experience in caring of dying. Also, there was significant difference between total knowledge and total from melt's attitude among 4^th year students in relation to post and follow up observations (p=0.002).The difference was present clearly in knowledge comparing with the attitude. Conclusion and recommendations: - Palliative care must be an integral part of the nursing curriculum and encourage students strongly to have a correct principle of care of dying patients to develop positive attitudes toward palliative terminal care.