Assessing nursing assistants' competency in palliative care: An evaluation tool

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care

Background:

• Nursing assistants are crucial in aged care, providing direct palliative care.
• Existing training and professional development for nursing assistants in palliative care are often inadequate.
• There's a need for an assessment tool tailored to nursing assistants' roles and education levels in palliative care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess an instrument to measure nursing assistants' knowledge, skills, and attitudes in palliative care.
• To evaluate the usability and performance of this new assessment tool.

Main Methods:

• Phase 3 of a research study involved developing an instrument for palliative care assessment.
• A survey method was used to test the instrument on nursing assistants in two residential aged care facilities.
• The instrument's ability to discriminate between groups based on experience was assessed.

Main Results:

• The developed instrument successfully discriminated between nursing assistants with varying levels of experience.
• Usability testing confirmed the instrument is user-friendly.
• The assessment tool proved to be time-efficient for administration.

Conclusions:

• The new instrument is a viable tool for assessing nursing assistants' palliative care competencies.
• This validated instrument can inform targeted education and professional development for aged care staff.
• Improved assessment can lead to enhanced quality of palliative care for older adults in residential facilities.