Nurses? Knowledge and Attitude in Providing Palliative Care and Attitude Towards Death Among Nurses in Oman: A Nationwide Survey

Background: Palliative care (PC) is a multidisciplinary approach used to prevent or reduce the suffering of patients, families, relatives, and others involved in dealing with patients with terminal illnesses or end-of-life situations. The main goal of PC is to reduce suffering and enhance the quality of life among terminally ill patients and their families. Globally, over 29 million deaths need PC, and the majority of these are taking place in developing countries with inadequate PC services. It is estimated that 80% of the countries in the world are not able to provide quality PC due to limitations of knowledge among healthcare professionals such as nurses, limited access to opioids, and lack of training among healthcare professionals. Nurses play a vital role in PC because of the extensive contact and time they have with patients and their family members. Oman is a country in the early stages of incorporating PC in the curricula used to train nursing students. However, the status of knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of nursing human resources already in practice in Oman is not known. Nurses need to have adequate knowledge and good attitudes in order to provide quality PC and end-of-life care (EOLC). Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude in providing palliative care and attitude towards death among nurses in selected tertiary hospitals, Oman. Design and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design will be used and standardized scales such as the palliative care knowledge questionnaire (PEACE-Q), the FATCOD, and the revised Death Attitude Profile-Revised, to assess the PC knowledge, attitude towards EOLC, and attitude towards death, respectively. Descriptive, correlational, and regression statistics will be used to summarize the knowledge and attitudes of nurses. Setting and Participants: The participants will be recruited from Khoula Hospital, Royal Hospital, Al Sultan Qaboos Hospital, Al Buraymi hospital, Nizwa Hospital, Sohar Hospital, Ar Rustaq Hospital, Sur Hospital, Ibra Hospital, Ibri Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Oman. A total of 1,463 nurses working in government tertiary care settings will be recruited to form a sample for the proposed study. Significance to Oman: The findings will provide us with information about the level of knowledge and attitudes of nurses related to providing PC and EOLC in the country. The study will help us to identify interventions to address existing gaps in current nursing human resources in Oman. A recently completed national study revealed that nursing students in Oman have inadequate PC knowledge and a moderate attitude towards EOLC. Conclusion: The proposed study focuses on a healthcare service that is under-studied and a population that is critical to the delivery of healthcare services in Oman. This population has not yet been studied in Oman. The findings of the study may lead to interventions to enhance Oman nursing human resources in PC, and subsequently, increased access to quality PC and healthcare services in Oman. The findings will facilitate planning of culturally appropriate training programs to augment PC services in the country.