A Multimodality Approach to Learning: Educating Nursing Students in Palliative Care

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care
• Chronic Illness Management

Background:

• Palliative care education is crucial for nurses caring for patients with chronic illnesses.
• Current nursing curricula often lack sufficient palliative and end-of-life care content.
• This deficiency leads to underprepared and less confident nursing students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a novel, interactive, multimodality palliative care class on nursing students.
• To evaluate improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and comfort regarding palliative and end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• A Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test analyzed pre- and post-class survey data.
• The Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses assessed knowledge.
• The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying survey measured attitudes.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in nursing students' knowledge of palliative care.
• Student attitudes toward caring for the dying showed significant positive changes.
• Comfort levels with providing palliative and end-of-life care increased significantly post-intervention.

Conclusions:

• An interactive, multimodality palliative care class effectively enhances nursing students' preparedness.
• Integrating comprehensive palliative care education is vital for improving chronic illness and end-of-life care.
• Enhanced education leads to increased competency and confidence in nursing practice.