Strengthening palliative care delivery in developing countries: a training workshop model in Botswana

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care
• Global Health

Background:

• Sub-Saharan Africa faces a critical shortage of palliative care services, with limited infrastructure and growing demand.
• Botswana is actively developing national policies to address the urgent need for enhanced palliative care delivery.
• Nurses are crucial for expanding palliative care, necessitating targeted education and training initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a 2-day palliative care training workshop model for nurses in Botswana.
• To assess the impact of the workshop on nurses' knowledge and skills in palliative care delivery.
• To provide a scalable model for improving palliative care education in resource-limited settings.

Main Methods:

• A 2-day palliative care workshop was delivered to 15 nurses in Gaborone, Botswana.
• Ten nurses completed pre- and post-workshop assessments comprising 21 questions on palliative care topics and skills.
• Quantitative data from test scores were analyzed to measure knowledge and skill improvement.

Main Results:

• Participants showed a statistically significant improvement in post-test scores compared to pre-test results (90% improvement).
• The highest pre-test scores were in the principles of palliative care (70%).
• Greatest score increases were observed in communication, end-of-life care, and syringe driver use for analgesia.

Conclusions:

• The training workshop model effectively enhanced nurses' palliative care knowledge and skills.
• The 2-day program demonstrated efficacy in advancing palliative care education for nurses.
• This model can be instrumental in expanding palliative care services for patients with limited access.