ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS PALLIATIVE CARE IN ONCOLOGY NURSING AMONG NURSING PERSONNEL, WEST BENGAL, INDIA.

Abstract

Palliative care is the science of promoting quality of life of a patient that is typically thought of as the intensive care given to a patient who is on the verge of passing away. Nurses need to acquire specic knowledge and abilities to provide quality palliative care. It is a strategy to enhance the quality of life for patients and their families dealing life-threatening illness by preventing and relieving suffering through early detection, accurate assessment and treatment of pain and physical, psychosocial and spiritual issues. Investigator undertaken this study to assess knowledge and attitude of staff nurses towards Palliative care in Oncology Nursing, using descriptive survey design. 60 staff nurses working in different government hospitals were selected as participants through non probability convenience sampling technique, following selected inclusion and exclusion criteria. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants, their knowledge and attitude towards Palliative care in Oncology Nursing were collected by structured questionnaire, PCQON and FATCOD. Study revealed that among 60 participants, only 30% (18) respondents have good knowledge towards Palliative Care in Oncology Nursing and maximum 77% (46) participants have positive attitude towards the PC in Oncology Nursing. There is no signicant relationship between nurses' knowledge on PC in Oncology Nursing and their clinical experience (χ2=0.76) and type of hospital they are working (χ2=0.09) df =1, p<0.05.Although a few nurses may have good knowledge but majority of them have good attitude towards Palliative care in Oncology Nursing.