This paper examines a research on nurses’ knowledge regarding palliative care, which has found to be quite inadequate and a major hindrance to high-quality palliative care services. The evaluation begins with a presentation of the summary of the study conducted by a group of researchers. The other sections discuss how the study’s findings can be used in nursing practice and ethical consideration on the research.
¶ … led by Venkatesan Prem conducted a research on nurses' knowledge regarding palliative care. This research was influenced by the fact that inadequate knowledge of a palliative care among these professionals is well-documented across various studies on palliative care. The lack of sufficient knowledge by nurses and other health care professionals regarding this health issue is considered as one of the major hindrances in providing high-quality palliative care services. This cross-sectional quantitative research provides important information that may be used in nursing practice through effective measures of enhancing the knowledge of these professionals in providing palliative care.
Summary of the Study:
One of the major obstacles to the provision of high-quality and effective palliative care in the recent past is inadequate knowledge by nurses and other health care practitioners. There are various reasons attributed to the lack of adequate knowledge on the issue such as deficiencies in nursing education, lack of curriculum content about pain management, and absence of content on pain and palliative care (Prem et. al., 2012, p.122). The researchers used palliative care knowledge test to evaluate nurses' knowledge regarding palliative care among nursing practitioners. The study was carried out through a cross-sectional survey of 363 nurses in a multi-specialty health care facility.
The research also used a self-report questionnaire that contained 20 statements regarding palliative care. Each nursing professional had to indicate correct, incorrect, or unsure for each of the 20 items in the questionnaire. These items were classified in 5 sub-categories i.e. philosophy, pain, dyspnea, gastro-intestinal problems, and psychiatric problems. In order to generate appropriate results and conclusions, the researchers used statistical analysis, which involved comparing personal and professional variables. This comparison included the use of one-way ANOVA and correlations by Karl-Pearson's co-efficient.
Based on the results of the survey, the general state of palliative care knowledge was poor though these professionals had more knowledge on psychiatric issues and philosophy than the other elements indicated in the questionnaire. In concurrence with the findings of past studies on this issue, the researchers found that there are inadequacies in knowledge on several aspects associated with palliative care (Valo, 2012, p.23). Some of these aspects include pain management, unfavorable drug incidents, and use of opioid.
Usefulness of the Study in Nursing Practice:
This research provides important insights that could be helpful in transforming nursing practice related to the issue since nurses have inadequate knowledge and misconceptions on palliative care (Qadire, 2014, p.23). The significance of the study is attributed to how its findings can be used for future research and initiatives to enhance nurses' palliative care knowledge. Some of these measures that the study's findings can be used for future research in nursing practice on palliative care include conducting comprehensive information on this issue, training programs, and advice on the issue. As evident from the research's findings, there is need for comprehensive education to incorporate the fundamental principles of this health issue and symptom management.
Secondly, the findings of the study provide the basis for future research on palliative care knowledge throughout the curriculum. Future researchers can use these findings to conduct comparisons between nurses from various work settings or academic backgrounds in different countries across the globe. These comparisons could be used to develop and implement effective measures to enhance nurses' knowledge on palliative care. The use of these findings for future research is because it is the first study that explored the issue through various aspects i.e. psychiatric problems, philosophy, gastro-intestinal problems, pain, and dyspnea. In addition, the study highlights some of the major areas that future researchers should focus on such as the link between nurses' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes and their behaviors in actual palliative care situations. The authors also demonstrate why these studies should focus on various ways of knowing because of the significance of being knowledgeable in overcoming several obstacles to successful palliative care and pain control.
Ethical Considerations:
Even though this research provides important information that could be used to enhance nurses' knowledge on palliative care, there are some ethical considerations attributed to the conduct of the study. First, the recommendations for future studies in nursing practice are relatively ineffective because the research does not examine interventions to enhance nurses' palliative care knowledge (Prem et. al., 2012, p.125). Therefore, the researchers' suggestions are not based on evidence based analysis of measures for enhancing knowledge. Secondly, it is difficult to compare the findings of the research with others since it is the first quantitative study that explored the issue from varying aspects. In essence, the difficulties in comparison hinder the probability of validating these findings.
You’re 83% through this paper. Sign up to read the full paper.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.