title: Evaluating strategies for changing acute care nurses' perceptions on end-of-life care.
abstract: Providing quality care to the dying has become a primary concern in the United States. Eighty percent of deaths still occur in the hospital even though nurses report they do not think that good deaths are routinely possible within a hospital setting due to lack of appropriate education on end-of-life care. The aim of this pilot study was to test the best method for changing acute nurse's perceptions about end-of-life care. A 3-group experimental design tested the efficacy of a nurse-led hospice collaborative. Hypotheses were: (1) nurses who receive classroom instruction will have greater change in perceptions than the control group and (2) nurses who receive a combination of classroom and hospice experiences will demonstrate greater changes than the classroom or control group. No significant differences were found among the 3 groups. However, the intervention group showed increased guilt about not having enough time to spend with the dying.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA. bkruse@fgcu.edu
authors.forename: Barbara G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.forename: Lolita W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Melhado
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Convertine
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stecher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017145:Models, Educational; D016294:Models, Nursing; D020380:Needs Assessment; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires