The impact of clinical internship experience on nursing students' attitudes towards death and choices of end‐of‐life care: A self‐control study

Abstract

Abstract Aim This study aims to explore the impact of emergency department internships on the attitudes towards death among undergraduate nursing students and their preferences for end‐of‐life care settings. Additionally, the study analyzes the reasons behind nursing students' choices of end‐of‐life care settings and provides insights for improving undergraduate education on attitudes towards death and end‐of‐life care, and provide reference for the development of emergency hospice care. Design This study adopts an observational design with a self‐controlled before‐and‐after approach. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted with 96 nursing interns between July 2021 to June 2022. Demographic information and data on attitudes towards death, and preferences for end‐oflife care location were collected by online questionnaire. Paired test were conducted to compare differences between groups. Results The study included a total of 96 nursing students with an average age of 21.11 years. The scores for the avoidance‐acceptance dimension of death attitudes before and after the internship were 2.40 (1.80, 3.00) and 2.20 (1.60, 3.00), respectively, showing a significant difference (Z = −2.084, p = 0.037). Factors such as gender, experience in caring for critically ill or dying patients, knowledge of death education, and discussions about death at home were found to influence nursing students' attitudes towards death. Nursing students expressed a preference for receiving end‐of‐life care and treatment in their homes or in hospice/palliative care wards, while the intensive care unit, emergency department, and nursing homes were the least preferred settings. There were significant differences in nursing students' preferences for end‐of‐life care settings before and after the internship (p = 0.000). Importantly, the number of nursing students expressing a desire to receive end‐of‐life care in the emergency department increased from 2 to 7 after the internship, while the number of students not wanting end‐of‐life care in the emergency department decreased by 5.

Keywords

• attitudes towards death
• clinical internship
• emergency department
• end‐of‐life care
• nursing students