Abstract

This study was designed to investigate how nurses’ experiences with DNR orders affects their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, the withdrawal of life-sustaining medical treatment. After receiving IRB approval, the 245 nurses who agreed to participate in this study completed a self-report questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed with PASW 18.0, which was used to measure frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficients. The major findings of this study were as follows. 1) The percentage of participants who had some experience with DNR orders was 35.1%. 2) The knowledge score concerning the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for nurses with DNR experience was significantly higher than that for nurses without DNR experience (t=2.319, p=0.021). 3) There was no significant difference in attitudes toward the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment between the two groups of nurses. However, there were significant differences between the two groups on respect for family’s CPR decisions. 4) Higher knowledge scores were significantly related to lower attitude scores (r=-0.250, p<0.001) for the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Nurses with DNR experience have greater knowledge about the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment than nurses without such experience. Attitudes toward the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment between these two groups of nurses differ only partially.

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