End-of-life nursing education: Enhancing nurse knowledge and attitudes

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a palliative and end-of-life care nursing education program on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward caring for patients with advanced serious illness or nearing death. Background: It is projected that 9 million Americans will be over 85 years old, in the year 2030; many will be living with disabilities and serious medical conditions. Expanding access to palliative care resources and knowledgeable providers is essential for meeting the future demands required by the aging population. Methods: A quasi-experimental research design with pre-test and post-test measures was utilized. Potential sample included 134 nurses who participated in a 6-week, 12-hour End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Core Curriculum (c) educational program. Changes in knowledge were measured using The Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) (n = 61), while changes in attitudes in caring for dying patients were measured using the Thanatophobia Scale (TS) (n = 57). Results: Results suggest that while post-test PCQN knowledge scores increased significantly (t = -7.498; p = .000), practicing nurses were somewhat lacking in EOL care knowledge answering 13/20 questions correctly before, and 15/20 questions correctly after the educational intervention. Results also indicated that the sample had positive attitudes in caring for this patient population initially, but that attitudes improved significantly post-intervention (t = 3.944; p = .000). Conclusions: Results support the use of the ELNEC (c) curriculum for EOL education among this sample, suggesting that educating practicing nurses about EOL is an effective mechanism for both increasing knowledge and improving attitudes. Results also suggest that more education is warranted.