Competencies of Palliative Care Nurses, Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital

Abstract

This descriptive research aimed to examine the palliative care competencies of professional nurses at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital and to compare these competencies among nurses at different experience levels. The sample consisted of 271 professional nurses, selected through purposive sampling, all of whom had worked in wards providing palliative care for at least 3 months. The research instruments included a personal information questionnaire and the Palliative Care Competency Assessment Tool, developed by the Nursing Division, Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the KruskalWallis test, and the Mann-Whitney U test.

The results revealed that 47.9% of professional nurses demonstrated overall palliative care competency at the level of requiring improvement, whereas 31.4% were at the standard level and 20.7% exceeded the standard level. Professional nurses with 1-3 years of experience showed the highest proportion (37.3%) of competencies above the standard level. In addition, professional nurses with more than 10 years of experience and those with 0-1 years of experience required the improvement at 68.3% and 52.4%, respectively. Furthermore, statistically significant differences (p < .05) were found forcompetencies in managing end-of-life care for patients and their families among professional nurses with different years of experience.

The findings suggest that both novice nurses who had 0-3 years of experience and senior nurses who had over 10 years of experience, require improvement in palliative care competencies. Therefore, healthcare administrators should focus on developing competency-building initiatives for both novice and senior nurses. This should include establishing training systems, mentorship programs, knowledge exchange platforms, and strengthening areas of deficiency to ensure that palliative care is of high quality, comprehensive, and more responsive to the needs of patients and their families.