Abstract
BackgroundWe undertook a modified systematic review of research regarding educational approaches to and effectiveness of pre-registration palliative care nursing, to inform the development of a short course in palliative care for pre-registration nursing students in Cameroon. The aim of this review was to examine educational approaches applied to pre-registration palliative care nursing education and their effectiveness, and to discuss implications for the development of palliative care curricula in resource-poor countries.MethodA modified systematic review of research on palliative care educational interventions, conducted with pre-registration student nurses was undertaken. Relevant literature was gathered from CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO databases for the period 2000–2013. Inclusion was limited to studies of educational interventions evaluating the effectiveness and outcomes of palliative and end of life care education with pre-registration student nurses.Results17 studies were found, all of which were conducted in resource-rich countries: United States of America, Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom. Palliative care nursing education at pre-registration level is either delivered as a discrete course within the curriculum or palliative care content is embedded into other nursing specialty courses throughout the wider curriculum. Palliative care education is delivered to students at a variety of stages in their nursing program, using a mix of both didactic and experiential educational strategies. Course facilitators span palliative care specialists, educators who have attended ‘train-the-trainer’ courses in palliative care, and nurses with hospice experience. Education is underpinned by transformative and experiential learning theories and reported as effective in improving students’ attitudes towards care of the dying.ConclusionThe educational strategies identified in this review may be applicable to resource-poor countries. However, there are challenges in transferability because of the lack of availability of specialist palliative care practitioners who can serve as educators, specialist palliative care units/institutions for experiential learning, funds to design and use high fidelity simulations, and palliative care textbooks and other educational materials. There is thus a need for innovative educational strategies that can bridge these barriers in resource-poor countries. There is also a need for further research into how palliative care education impacts on pre-registration student nurses’ knowledge and practice.
Highlights
We undertook a modified systematic review of research regarding educational approaches to and effectiveness of pre-registration palliative care nursing, to inform the development of a short course in palliative care for pre-registration nursing students in Cameroon
Palliative care nursing education at pre-registration level is either delivered as a discrete course within the curriculum or palliative care content is embedded into other nursing specialty courses throughout the wider curriculum
The 17 studies had been conducted in resource-rich countries; USA (13), Canada (1), Australia (1), and UK (1) and assessed the impacts of palliative and end of life care education on student nurses’: Attitudes towards care of the dying [19,20,24,27]; Attitudes and self-perceived competencies in end of life care [28]; Articles retrieved through database searching after duplicates have been removed: Literature searching database: CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO
Summary
We undertook a modified systematic review of research regarding educational approaches to and effectiveness of pre-registration palliative care nursing, to inform the development of a short course in palliative care for pre-registration nursing students in Cameroon. The aim of this review was to examine educational approaches applied to pre-registration palliative care nursing education and their effectiveness, and to discuss implications for the development of palliative care curricula in resource-poor countries. Nurses play a fundamental role in the care of patients with life-threatening illnesses and end of life care is a part of every nurse’s’ every day practice [1,2]. This means it is essential that all nurses are competent and feel confident in applying palliative care in their clinical practice. Sub-Saharan African countries, India and Russia that have a limited potential to provide palliative care are considered to be resource-poor
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