Keywords

education, end of life, nursing students, palliative care

 

Authors

  1. Mason, Heidi DNP, ACNP-BC
  2. Burgermeister, Diane PhD, PMHCNS-BC
  3. Harden, Karen DNP
  4. Price, Deborah DNP
  5. Roth, Roxanne DNP

Abstract

Palliative care education at the undergraduate and graduate level is necessary to improve the competency and confidence of nurses and ultimately improve the care of patients with a chronic illness. Unfortunately, the curriculum in nursing education programs lacks palliative care content, resulting in a lack of preparation and confidence among nursing students. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of educating nursing students utilizing an interactive, multimodality palliative care class that focuses on palliative and end-of-life care. The Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses and Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying survey were used to assess nursing students before and after a newly developed palliative care class. A Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test was used to determine a difference in pre and post scores. Results revealed a significant improvement in knowledge, attitude, and comfort with palliative and end-of-life care.