Abstract
Aims and objectives
To evaluate the impact of an educational workshop on nursing students’ attitudes to caring for dying patients.
Background
The quality of end-of-life care education provided in preregistration nursing programmes has been criticised. The lack of attention to the emotional content results in nursing students feeling ill-prepared to care for the dying and bereaved. This article reports the findings of a study conducted to evaluate the impact of an educational workshop on undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes to caring for patients at the end of life.
Design
A pre- and postintervention survey was used to determine nursing students’ attitudes and feelings concerning end-of-life care prior to and following their involvement in an educational workshop.
Methods
Third-year undergraduate nursing students completed two questionnaires incorporating the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale, before and after attending a ‘Critical Moments’ workshop.
Results
The data revealed a statistically significant increase in positive attitudes to end-of-life care amongst the respondents. Free text responses confirmed the development of positive attitudes and indicated that the workshop was regarded as a valuable learning opportunity.
Conclusions
Workshops that use case studies based on ‘real-life’ episodes of end-of-life care can provide an effective learning opportunity that significantly improves the attitudes of nursing students to caring for the dying.
To evaluate the impact of an educational workshop on nursing students’ attitudes to caring for dying patients.
Background
The quality of end-of-life care education provided in preregistration nursing programmes has been criticised. The lack of attention to the emotional content results in nursing students feeling ill-prepared to care for the dying and bereaved. This article reports the findings of a study conducted to evaluate the impact of an educational workshop on undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes to caring for patients at the end of life.
Design
A pre- and postintervention survey was used to determine nursing students’ attitudes and feelings concerning end-of-life care prior to and following their involvement in an educational workshop.
Methods
Third-year undergraduate nursing students completed two questionnaires incorporating the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale, before and after attending a ‘Critical Moments’ workshop.
Results
The data revealed a statistically significant increase in positive attitudes to end-of-life care amongst the respondents. Free text responses confirmed the development of positive attitudes and indicated that the workshop was regarded as a valuable learning opportunity.
Conclusions
Workshops that use case studies based on ‘real-life’ episodes of end-of-life care can provide an effective learning opportunity that significantly improves the attitudes of nursing students to caring for the dying.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3555-3563 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Clinical Nursing |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 23-24 |
| Early online date | 18 Jun 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2014 |