Abstract
Palliative care education for undergraduate nursing students varies in hours, methods, and contents worldwide. This study aimed to examine the nursing students' changes in palliative care knowledge, attitude, and coping with death after 18 hours of lecture-simulation-combined palliative care course. The study adopted a quasi-experiment method by one-group pre-posttest design. The palliative care course was composed of 2-hour of lecture, 10-hour of lecture-simulation-combined terminal symptoms learning, and 6-hour of simulation scenario practice. Students' knowledge was measured with Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing, students' attitude was measured with Frommelt Attitude towards Care of the Dying, and students' coping with death was measured with Coping with Death Scale before and after the palliative care course. There were 52 nursing undergraduate students participated in this study. The higher mean score of Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing, Frommelt Attitude towards Care of the Dying, and Coping with Death Scale gained after the course indicated students' improved knowledge, attitude, and coping (P<0.05). Results from multiple regression analysis showed that knowledge and attitude had statistically significant impacts on students' coping with death (P<0.05). The palliative care course combining lectures with simulation-based learning could improve nursing students' palliative care knowledge, attitude, and coping strategies. Nursing educators can improve nursing students' coping with death by enriching their knowledge and improving their attitude.
Highlights
As the population ages, the need for palliative care as a part of continuous health care increases
Students' palliative care knowledge was improved after the course in the dimensions of philosophy and principles (P
Palliative Care Knowledge Palliative care knowledge deficit among nurses is one of the main obstacles in providing high-quality palliative care。 Nurses' knowledge deficit might originate from insufficient education during their undergraduate learning
Summary
The need for palliative care as a part of continuous health care increases. Nurses should be prepared to care for clients throughout their entire lifespan, including delivering palliative care at the last stage of life. Nurses play a crucial role in the palliative care team since they spend the longest time with patients [1]. Providing palliative care is a challenging and anxiety-provoking duty because of incurable diseases and impending death. The undergraduate nursing curriculum has been slow to integrate the palliative care course. There was considerable evidence that unprepared nurses reveal anxiety, anguish, and dread when facing dying patients [2]-[4], which compromise patient care quality and patient satisfaction
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