Early integration of palliative care among cancer patients: The perspective of oncology nurses in Turkey.

Abstract

Cancer is a disease that threatens the life of patients and causes chronic health problems and many symptoms that affect their quality of life. For this reason, patients must be followed up in palliative care units, where they can receive more comprehensive care from the diagnosis stage. This study was conducted to evaluate the views and knowledge level of oncology nurses in the integration of early palliative care among cancer patients. A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study design of the research was employed to gather data from 106 nurses working in different areas of oncology in hospitals located in different cities in country from March to May 2021. Nurses' total scores on the Palliative Care Knowledge Test differed significantly by age, years of working in the profession, the unit worked and the working time in the unit (p < 0.05). The results of the study showed that the nurses' knowledge of palliative care was above the moderate level. The nurses with high knowledge scores advocated the need for early integration of palliative care. Moreover, the results also indicated that there is a need to increase the educational level of nurses in palliative care.