title: Nursing education: the experience, attitudes, and impact of caring for dying patients by undergraduate Argentinian nursing students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is extensive research documenting serious deficiencies in undergraduate nursing education related to end-of-life care. Many nurses and nursing students have difficulties in dealing with death and report feeling anxious and unprepared to be with patients who are dying. In Argentina, education on palliative care, death, and dying has not been made part of the undergraduate nursing curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a multicenter survey on undergraduate nursing education regarding the care of dying patients at eight schools of nursing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We enrolled 680 students from first to fifth year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Students acknowledged interacting directly with dying patients. Attitudes toward dying patients were highly positive. Students of the fifth year expressed a less satisfying relationship with their patients than those from the first year; considered it as a less gratifying occupation, and also showed a greater preference for avoiding emotional involvement with those patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Many of them described in short and very expressive phrases the emotional impact of their encounters with patients facing a life-threatening illness. Students perceived that this issue received more attention in humanistic rather than clinical subjects. Ninety-eight percent of students spontaneously demanded more training in end-of-life care. The interest and desire of undergraduate students to enhance their knowledge and experience in palliative care, demands more specific teaching contents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This suggests that in Argentina, improvements in undergraduate nursing training are urgently needed and would be well received by the students. It could be very useful to consider this topic as part of accreditation standards for nursing programs.
authors.affiliation: Palliative Care Unit, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Austral University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Eduardo Mario
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mutto
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Errázquin
authors.forename: Maria Margarita
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rabhansl
authors.forename: Marcelo Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Villar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care; D055815:Young Adult