Journal of Client-centered Nursing Care (Apr 2024)
Nurses’ Level of Preparedness to Provide Palliative Care and Its Relationship With Their Evidence-based Practice
Abstract
Background: Nursing practice must include palliative care (PC) as an essential component. The main obstacles to quality PC are nurses’ lack of knowledge, negative attitudes, and gaps in evidence-based practice (EBP). Accordingly, the present study aims to evaluate nurses’ knowledge of PC, their attitude towards caring for dying patients, and its relationship with EBP (knowledge/skills, attitude, and performance) in primary health care (PHC) organizations in Astana City, Kazakhstan. Methods: The data were collected through a cross-sectional study design from 565 nurses working in primary health care organizations in Astana, Kazakhstan, from January 2022 to March 2023. The subjects were recruited by convenience sampling. The study data were collected using an online questionnaire with four parts: Demographic and professional characteristics, the palliative care quiz for nurses (PCQN), the Frommelt attitudes towards care of the dying (FATCOD), and the evidence-based practice questionnaire (EBPQ). The independent t-test, a one-way ANOVA, and Kendall tau rank correlation coefficient were employed to analyze data. Hierarchical multiple regression was also developed to identify variables influencing nurses’ PC knowledge. SPSS software, version 24, was used for data analysis. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The nurses’ PC knowledge level was low (mean score=9.06±2.93). Most nurses (93%) had a neutral or negative attitude towards caring for dying patients (mean score=94.50±12.41). The obtained score (4.39±1.05) on the EBPQ indicated a moderate level of competence in EBP. Work experience (β=0.534; P=0.000) and competencies in EBP (β=0.136, P=0.001) were associated with knowledge of PC. The aspect of knowledge/skills in EBP had the most significant impact on nurses’ competence level in the PC field (β=0.122, P=0.005). Conclusion: An insufficient level of nurses’ knowledge about PC and a neutral or negative attitude towards caring for dying patients were revealed. The results also indicated that much attention and resources should be directed to improving nurses’ knowledge level in the field of EBP because this aspect significantly affects the level of knowledge on PC.
