Nurses’ knowledge about palliative care in Southeast Iran

Objective: Palliative care requires nurses to be knowledgeable about different aspects of the care that they provide for dying patients. This study, therefore, was conducted to examine oncology and intensive care nurses’ knowledge about palliative care in Southeast Iran. Method: Using the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN), 140 oncology and intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ knowledge about palliative care in three hospitals supervised by Kerman University of Medical Sciences was assessed. Results: In PCQN, the mean score was 7.59 (SD: 2.28). The most correct answers were in the category of management of pain and other symptoms (46.07%). The lowest correct answers were in the category of psychosocial and spiritual care (19.3%). Significance of results: These findings suggest that nurses’ knowledge about palliative care can be improved by establishing specific palliative care units to focus on end-of-life care. This establishment requires incorporation of an end-of-life nursing education curriculum into undergraduate nursing studies

Difficulties Felt by Intensive Care Unit Nurses in Providing End-of-Life Care in Southeast Iran

Introduction: Critical care deaths represent most hospital deaths. The difficulties felt by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses providing end-of-life care may cause nurses to experience negative attitudes toward caring for dying patients. This study was conducted to examine the difficulties felt by ICU nurses providing end-of-life care in Southeast Iran. Method: The study used a cross-sectional descriptive design and was conducted in 3 hospitals supervised by Kerman Medical University. Using DFINE (difficulties felt by ICU nurses providing end-of-life care), difficulties felt by critical care nurses providing end-of-life care were assessed. Results: The results indicated that the difficulties that were felt by critical care nurses were moderate (2.64 T 0.65). Among the categories and items, the most difficulties felt by critical care nurses belonged to the category of ‘‘converting from curative care to end-of-life care’’ (3.12 T 0.93) and the item ‘‘life-sustaining treatment is often given excessively’’ (3.49 T 1.14). Conclusions: The study suggests that health care managers should organize systematic and dynamic policies and procedures in dealing with end-of-life care to assist ICU nurses

Nurses' attitudes toward palliative care in south-east Iran

Background: Nurses are the element of the palliative care team who spend the most time with patients. Nurses' attitudes toward palliative care affect their behaviour toward their patients. Aim: This study sought to examine oncology and intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' attitudes toward palliative care in south-east Iran. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the palliative care attitudes of 140 oncology and ICU nurses from three hospitals supervised by Kerman University of Medical Science. Results: Participants had moderately negative to neutral attitudes toward palliative care (2.99±0.29 out of 5). Among all categories, the highest mean score came from the category of 'patient's preferences' (mean=3.66) and the lowest from the category of 'withholding and withdrawing treatment' (mean=2.42). A signifcant correlation was found between nurses' attitudes toward palliative care and some demographic characteristics, including marital status, type of ward, palliative care education, personal study about palliative care, level of education, and experience of caring for a dying family member. Conclusions: This study suggests that educational designers should include specific courses about death and palliative care in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curricula. Educational programmes need to build on the specifc experiences of death and dying among nurses and auxiliary nurses

The effect of nurse-initiated diary intervention on posttraumatic stress disorder and recall of memories in ICU survivors: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Patients’ recall of memories from the ICU plays an important role in the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder. This study aimed to determine the effect of nurse-initiated diary intervention on post-traumatic stress disorder and recall of memories in ICU survivors. Methods This RCT study included all patients admitted to two trauma ICUs in Southeast of Iran. Thirty patients considered in control and intervention groups. Data collection tools included the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the ICU Memory Tool (ICU-MT). The researcher wrote daily diaries of the intervention and control groups during the first 72 h of their admissions. SPSS25 was used to analyze the data. Results The total mean PTSD score in the intervention group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p > 0.0001, z = -3.75). The number of those in the intervention group who clearly recalled their admission to hospital, their hospital stay before being admitted to the ICU and all memories from the ICU stay, was more than those in the control group; this difference was statistically significant (p > 0.0001). Conclusion The results showed that the nurse-initiated diary was effective on the PTSD and recall clear memories of patients admitted to the ICU. We suggest medical and educational centers to use this intervention in order to reduce the posttraumatic stress disorder in these patients. As nurse-initiated diary intervention had no significant difference in the recall of different types of memories from the ICU, we require further studies in this field

Orthopaedic nurses' knowledge about pressure ulcers in Iran: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To assess nurses' knowledge about pressure ulcers in an Iranian orthopaedic ward. Method: A cross-sectional, self-report questionnaire study using Pieper's Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Test (PUKT). Orthopaedic nurses' knowledge about pressure ulcers was examined in two teaching hospitals in Iran. The questionnaire consisted of 41 true or false assertions, categorised according to pressure ulcer classification and onset, wound characteristics and preventive measure. Results: Of 68 nurses, 57 participated in this study (response rate of 84%); of the respondents, 68% (n=39) were women and 32% (n=18) were men. Mean age of participants was 30.2 +/- 5.1 years and mean years of experience was 6.9 +/- 4.6 years. The overall rate of correct responses by nurses was 70.1%. Nurses had the highest level of knowledge in the pressure ulcer prevention category and the lowest in the pressure ulcer categorisation and onset section. No relationship was found between level of knowledge and nurses' years of experience. Conclusion: Pressure ulcer prevention is one of the most important roles of nurses in an orthopaedic setting. The results of this study suggest that orthopaedic nurses in Iran were not sufficiently knowledgeable about pressure ulcers. Therefore, there is a need to improve their knowledge with some targeted, educational programmes. Declaration of interest: There were no external sources of funding for this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare