title: Palliative care for those with heart failure: nurses' knowledge, attitude, and preparedness to practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Palliative care is an important element of holistic care but has received little attention in cardiac disease patients. The purpose of the paper is (a) to investigate nurses' knowledge of palliative care, attitudes toward care of the dying, coping with death, and preparedness to practice palliative care for those with heart failure, and (b) to evaluate influencing factors on preparedness to practice on palliative care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional descriptive design employed a structured questionnaire that tested nurses' knowledge, attitude, coping, and preparedness to practice on palliative care for patients with heart failure. Ninety nurses in two tertiary university hospitals in South Korea participated in the survey. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed low levels of knowledge reported (an average of 48.3% correct answers), attitude (134.8±110.1), coping (117.2±24.3), and preparedness to practice (17.3±4.7) relating to palliative care. The extent of knowledge was related to both attitudes and coping. These attitudes and coping skills were related to preparedness to practice. The multiple regression analysis showed that preparedness to practice was explained by coping and attitude (R (2) =0.46, F=6.1, p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Palliative care training is urgently needed to improve knowledge, attitude, coping, and preparedness to practice. Guidance to assist healthcare professionals involved in palliative care for those with cardiac disease needs to be developed and provided.
authors.affiliation: 1Nursing Policy Research Institute, College of Nursing, Yonsei University, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sanghee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Won Ju
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000451:nursing* / Q000628:therapy; D064946:Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards*; D056910:Republic of Korea
keywords: Palliative care; attitude; heart failure; knowledge; nurse; preparedness to practice