Palliative Care in Nursing Education

Abstract

          This descriptive research aimed to examine the educational approach of the palliative care nursing education, and the differences of satisfaction in outcome of the curriculum management between the academic administrators and clinical instructors. The study sample was selected from eighty-two nursing institutions (2 persons were selected from each institutions), accredited by the Thailand Nursing and Midwifery Council. There were two groups of respondents: 1) the administrative group, and 2) the faculty group, which included course directors, instructors or lecturers of palliative care subjects. The research tool used in this study was a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire were divided into three main content categories: 1) the curriculum profile and education management, 2) the satisfaction of the outcome of the curriculum management, and 3) open-ended questions related to the teaching format and style, course content, and suggestions for curriculum/course management regarding palliative care in nursing education. The content validation of the questionnaire was conducted by five nursing instructors who have taught in palliative care for more than five years. The questionnaire was tested on 30 non-sample nursing instructors for its reliability (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = .72). One hundred and sixty-four questionnaires were mailed to the 82 institutes of nursing education. Ninety-four surveys were completed with the response rate was 57.32%. Descriptive statistics (percentages, means, standard deviations) and the independent t-test were used to assess differences in approach of the palliative care nursing education and satisfaction of the outcomes of the curriculum management between the two groups.

          The results revealed that the classroom teaching (theory course) were most often on the topic of pain assessment and management (64 persons, 68.09 percent). Sixty-eight respondents (72.34 percent) answered that the clinical teaching was used most often and it was done through case study assignments and case discussions. Twenty-six respondents responded to the open-ended questions and suggested a continuous curriculum for palliative care education that includes both lectures and clinical teaching in undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as continuing education courses. The mean satisfaction scores of the outcome of the curriculum management between the two groups were not statistically different (at 0.05 level of significance).