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Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients

Received: 8 April 2017     Accepted: 27 April 2017     Published: 5 July 2017
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Abstract

Palliative care (PC) is a specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of serious illness. The aim of the study is to assess critical care nurses’ knowledge, practice, Obstacles and helpful measures toward palliative care for critically ill patients. The research design of this study was a descriptive design. It was conducted at Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Tanta University Hospital and oncology ICU at oncology institute, Tanta, Egypt. Three tools were used for collecting data. Tool I is a structured interview questionnaire sheet to collect data about nurses' sociodemographic data and knowledge. Tool II is an observational checklist for nurses’ practice regarding palliative care and tool III is nurses' perception of obstacles and helpful measures towards palliative care for critically ill patients. The results of the study reported that more than three quarter (77.1%) and (48.6%) of critical care nurses in medical and oncology ICUs, respectively, had unsatisfactory score of knowledge. More than half (51.4%) and 25.7% of nurses in Medical and Oncology ICUs respectively had poor practice while more than one third (34.3%) and 40% of nurses in medical and oncology department respectively had good practice score. From this paper, it was concluded that nurses in intensive care units at the Tanta University Hospital had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice regarding palliative care which is considered as an important aspect of improving quality of care. The most obstacles for providing palliative care are “not enough time to provide quality end of life. It was recommended that educational and in-service training programs should be conducted by the nursing personal in both hospital and intensive care settings about palliative care.

Published in American Journal of Nursing Science (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13
Page(s) 293-303
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Palliative Care, Intensive Care Nurse, Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles

References
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  • APA Style

    Afaf Abd El-Aziz Basal, Gehan Abd El-Hakim Younis. (2017). Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients. American Journal of Nursing Science, 6(4), 293-303. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13

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    ACS Style

    Afaf Abd El-Aziz Basal; Gehan Abd El-Hakim Younis. Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients. Am. J. Nurs. Sci. 2017, 6(4), 293-303. doi: 10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13

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    AMA Style

    Afaf Abd El-Aziz Basal, Gehan Abd El-Hakim Younis. Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients. Am J Nurs Sci. 2017;6(4):293-303. doi: 10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13,
      author = {Afaf Abd El-Aziz Basal and Gehan Abd El-Hakim Younis},
      title = {Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients},
      journal = {American Journal of Nursing Science},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {293-303},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajns.20170604.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajns.20170604.13},
      abstract = {Palliative care (PC) is a specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of serious illness. The aim of the study is to assess critical care nurses’ knowledge, practice, Obstacles and helpful measures toward palliative care for critically ill patients. The research design of this study was a descriptive design. It was conducted at Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Tanta University Hospital and oncology ICU at oncology institute, Tanta, Egypt. Three tools were used for collecting data. Tool I is a structured interview questionnaire sheet to collect data about nurses' sociodemographic data and knowledge. Tool II is an observational checklist for nurses’ practice regarding palliative care and tool III is nurses' perception of obstacles and helpful measures towards palliative care for critically ill patients. The results of the study reported that more than three quarter (77.1%) and (48.6%) of critical care nurses in medical and oncology ICUs, respectively, had unsatisfactory score of knowledge. More than half (51.4%) and 25.7% of nurses in Medical and Oncology ICUs respectively had poor practice while more than one third (34.3%) and 40% of nurses in medical and oncology department respectively had good practice score. From this paper, it was concluded that nurses in intensive care units at the Tanta University Hospital had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice regarding palliative care which is considered as an important aspect of improving quality of care. The most obstacles for providing palliative care are “not enough time to provide quality end of life. It was recommended that educational and in-service training programs should be conducted by the nursing personal in both hospital and intensive care settings about palliative care.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Critical Care Nurses' Knowledge, Practice, Obstacles and Helpful Measures Towards Palliative Care for Critically Ill Patients
    AU  - Afaf Abd El-Aziz Basal
    AU  - Gehan Abd El-Hakim Younis
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    AB  - Palliative care (PC) is a specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of serious illness. The aim of the study is to assess critical care nurses’ knowledge, practice, Obstacles and helpful measures toward palliative care for critically ill patients. The research design of this study was a descriptive design. It was conducted at Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Tanta University Hospital and oncology ICU at oncology institute, Tanta, Egypt. Three tools were used for collecting data. Tool I is a structured interview questionnaire sheet to collect data about nurses' sociodemographic data and knowledge. Tool II is an observational checklist for nurses’ practice regarding palliative care and tool III is nurses' perception of obstacles and helpful measures towards palliative care for critically ill patients. The results of the study reported that more than three quarter (77.1%) and (48.6%) of critical care nurses in medical and oncology ICUs, respectively, had unsatisfactory score of knowledge. More than half (51.4%) and 25.7% of nurses in Medical and Oncology ICUs respectively had poor practice while more than one third (34.3%) and 40% of nurses in medical and oncology department respectively had good practice score. From this paper, it was concluded that nurses in intensive care units at the Tanta University Hospital had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice regarding palliative care which is considered as an important aspect of improving quality of care. The most obstacles for providing palliative care are “not enough time to provide quality end of life. It was recommended that educational and in-service training programs should be conducted by the nursing personal in both hospital and intensive care settings about palliative care.
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Author Information
  • Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

  • Critical Care Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

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