Palliative Care Knowledge among Bachelors of Science Nursing Students

<p><strong>Purpose</strong>: To assess the palliative care (PC) knowledge of junior and senior level bachelors of science nursing (BSN) students and to compare the PC knowledge between these two groups of students.</p> <p><strong>Design</strong>: A non-experimental quantitative, cross-sectional, survey design was used.</p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: Seventy two students from a junior level and a senior level BSN course were recruited at a southeastern United States university. The participants completed the demographic form and the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN). Data collection took place from September 2013 to October 2013.</p> <p><strong>Data Analysis:</strong> Overall mean score percentage from the total sample and mean raw scores from each group were used to answer the research questions. An independent t test was performed to assess for differences in PC knowledge scores between the two groups of students.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: The total percentage rate on the PCQN was 61%. Juniors (M=11.7) scored slightly lower on the PCQN than senior level (M=12.93) students. The difference in scores were small, but statistically significant (p<0.05). Participants scored lowest on identifying chronic versus acute pain, and highest on understanding that palliative care is an aggressive treatment.</p> <p><strong>Clinical Relevance</strong>: Junior and senior level BSN students lack adequate information on palliative care, and did not meet the AACN expectation of a generalist registered nurse. Further, internal reliability of the PCQN was a concern. Additional reliability testing of the PCQN should be done in the future.</p>

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Pope, Amy

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nicole Mareno
• Patricia Hart

• bachelors of science in nursing
• BSN
• students
• palliative care
• knowledge
• Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing
• Medical Education
• Nursing

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/596

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu:etd-1599