shh.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Nurses' knowledge about palliative care in an intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia
Sophiahemmet University.
Sophiahemmet University.
Sophiahemmet University.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2139-2408
Sophiahemmet University.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0971-5283
2015 (English)In: Middle East Journal of Nursing, ISSN 1834-8742, Vol. 9, no 1, p. 7-13Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Most patients die in hospital settings either in intensive care unit (ICU), emergency department (ED) or other departments. In Saudi Arabia, approximately 23,000 persons are diagnosed with cancer every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), palliative care is a holistic activity that involves physical, psychosocial and spiritual human needs to enhance quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care is an essential aspect to be applied for patients with chronic diseases to improve their quality of life. Earlier studies have shown that physicians, nurses and nurse assistants who work in long-term care settings lack the knowledge to enforce palliative care principles due to lack of education. According to the WHO, health care professionals should be educated and trained to apply palliative care.Aim: The aim of this study was to explore nurses' knowledge about palliative care in an intensive care unit in Saudi Arabia. Method: Eight individual qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Manifest content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The palliative care concept was not familiar for most ICU nurses but it was applied in their daily work. Most nurses provided physical care at the end of life to keep the body intact. Some nurses highlighted that dying patients did not feel pain to be treated and did not have emotions to be supported.Conclusions: Nurses had insufficient knowledge of palliative care and how to apply it in ICU setting. The provision of additional education in palliative care is recommended in order to improve the knowledge of palliative care among nurses.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. Vol. 9, no 1, p. 7-13
Keywords [en]
Palliative care, Intensive care unit, Knowledge, End of life, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:shh:diva-1815OAI: oai:DiVA.org:shh-1815DiVA, id: diva2:794404
Available from: 2015-03-11 Created: 2015-03-11 Last updated: 2020-06-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Journal Homepage

Authority records

Sormunen, TainaHillerås, Pernilla

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Sormunen, TainaHillerås, Pernilla
By organisation
Sophiahemmet University
Nursing

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 427 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf