Paediatric nurses' knowledge of palliative care in Florida: a quantitative study

Nurses routinely identify and suggest patients to physicians for possible referral to palliative care and discuss potential referrals with families. Knowledge of palliative care is essential for nurses, especially in paediatrics, where palliative care is less common than with adults. This study uses data from surveys from 279 paediatric nurses across Florida, USA. The palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN) and the knowledge about hospice quiz (KHQ) were used. On the KHQ at least one-half of the nurses answered six out of seven questions correctly. On the PCQN at least one-half of the nurses answered 12 out of 20 questions correctly. Multivariate analyses show that receiving formal palliative care training and having worked at a hospice were associated with greater knowledge. Paediatric nurses in Florida have a good level of baseline knowledge of palliative care. Nurses' training programs should be used to increase knowledge, which may subsequently lead to more referrals.