Knowledge and Practice of Nurses on Palliative Care in Tertiary Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Palliative care is about achieving the highest quality of life and promoting comfort and dignity for patients with incurable and life-limiting diseases. End-of-life care is one of the routine activities of nurses. Objective: The study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge and practice of nurses in palliative care in tertiary hospitals. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. A total number of 308 nurses were selected following defined selection criteria. The purposive sampling method was applied for data collection. Data were collected from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital. Results: This study showed that among the total respondents, 58.4% had average knowledge 27.3% had good knowledge, 14.3% had poor knowledge of palliative care, 57.5% had moderate practice, 28.5% had adequate practice and 14.0 % had inadequate practice on palliative care. Conclusion: This study found that nurses’ knowledge and practice of palliative care were not satisfactory and they need palliative care training. Therefore, upgrading nursing education and palliative care training sessions will be improved for nurses to deal with terminally ill patients.