A Quantitative Study of the Attitude and Experience of Nurses on Prioritizing Comfort Measures in Care of the Dying Patient in Hospice Setting

A Quantitative Study of the Attitude and Experience of Nurses on Prioritizing Comfort Measures in Care of the Dying Patient in Hospice Setting

Contents

Abstract 1

Introduction. 2

Research Problem.. 3

Research Questions and Hypothesis. 3

Hypothesis. 3

Literature Review.. 4

Chapter 2: Methodology. 5

2.1. Introduction. 5

2.2 Research Design. 5

2.3 Sample Size. 6

Inclusion Criteria. 6

Exclusion Criteria. 6

2.4 Sample Size. 7

2.5 Data Collection. 7

2.6 Validity and Reliability. 8

Reliability. 9

2.6 Data Analysis. 9

2.7 Ethical considerations. 10

Budget 10

Limitations. 11

Abstract

Patients that face serious life-threatening illnesses whose outcome is death, are recommended for hospice care. This is done to make sure that patient’s quality of life is preserved by reducing the severity of the symptoms of the disease, instead of merely treating the disease itself. The review of international literature shows that key themes were used to identify the dying face, control of symptoms of the dying patient, and ensuring comfort care for the patients. It revealed that doctors and nurses usually differ in how they approach issues dealing with care for the terminally-ill patients in the hospice facilities. Consequently, this has led to hindrance in effective delivery of hospice care. The literature review recommends that education should be used as a tool in dealing with challenges facing hospice care. Both the medical staff and nurses should be educated on how to effectively handle patients who need hospice care to prolong lives of patients.

It is important and necessary to investigate the training and education levels of medical staff and nurses who are in charge of patients who require hospice care. It is also necessary to investigate whether or not experience and attitudes of doctors and nurses influence the delivery of hospice care. However, this research proposal is only concerned with nurses and how they handle patients in the hospice facilities. Quantitative approach that employs descriptive design will be used for this study. Questionnaires will used as a data collection method to collect data from nurses from the hospice facility in New York. The study sample of 100 staff nurses will be chosen using the simple random method.

The results obtained from this study will give a clear view regarding knowledge, attitude, and experience of nurses in the field of hospice care of the terminally-ill patients in New York hospice facilities. The study will also outline and recommend necessary interventions needed to improve the level of hospice care in hospital facilities. The study is expected to outline education, management and training as important measures necessary to improve hospice care.

Introduction

The main aim of this study is to analyze knowledge, attitude and experience of nurses in making sure that comfort measures are prioritized in hospice care of dying patients in a hospital setting. Hospitals usually concentrate on the quality of a patient’s life when caring for the dying patients in hospice facilities. Mostly, nurses focus a lot on minimization of severity of symptoms of a disease instead of trying to cure the disease itself or delaying its development to improve life of the patient. Many hospitals have developed programs that ensure that quality hospice care is provided for patients in hospice facilities.

Patients who suffer from terminal illnesses face a lot of challenges when admitted in various hospice facilities that offer care for the dying patients. Nurses face many challenges when attending to the dying patients making it hard to deliver quality services to patients. Apart from the challenges that nurse face, there are other factors that contribute to the success or failure of services that they offer to the dying patients. Studies show that knowledge, attitude, and experience of nurses play a big role in determining quality of care they offer to dying patients in various hospice facilities. These factors play a major role in determining whether nurses are capable of offering the required services to dying patients in the hospice.

Research Problem

Before planning for intervention measures, it is important to carry out a study to give a clear picture on how the situation of hospice care is in the health facilities. This study generally seeks to study knowledge, attitude and experiences of nurses who handle the dying patients in hospice facilities. It will establish factors that influence the approach of nurses in delivering hospice care to terminally-ill patients.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

The research problem of this study leads to the following research questions:

1. What is the attitude of nurses on prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility?
2. What is the knowledge of nurses on prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility?

III.       What is the experience of nurses on prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility?

Hypothesis

Knowledge, attitude, and practice do not affect nurses’ prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility.

Study objectives

1. To determine the attitude of nurses on prioritization of comfort measures for terminally ill patients in a hospice facility.
2. To establish if knowledge of nurses is adequate in prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility.

III.       To establish of experience of nurses in prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients.

Literature Review

It is important to identify dying phase in order to operate successfully in a hospice facility. Failure to identify that a patient is slowly dying greatly affects the quality of care given to such patients. Nurses should therefore be trained on how to identify such dying phases in order to provide quality care that befits the dying patient. Training of nurses is fundamental to make sure that this goal is achieved. They should be trained on when and how to identify such phases to avoid embarrassing situations in their careers. Such patients should always be treated with dignity and any nurse that follows those guidelines will always offer quality hospice care to the dying patients (Thompson, McClement & Daeninck, 2006).

The experience of nurses is fundamental when dealing with dying patients. Nurses with rich experience who have worked win hospice facilities know how to handle dying patients. They always know when and how to attend to dying patients. Nurses who lack experience in the field of caring for dying patients always find it hard to attend to such patients. It is therefore crucial for hospice facilities and their management to make sure that nurses assigned to such facilities have enough experience to attend patients suffering from terminal illnesses.

Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1. Introduction

The research methodology chosen for this study will be shown here. The proposed research design, methods of selection of samples, data collection and results analysis will be clearly outlined .The ethical considerations for this study will also be explained in details. It is anticipated that the chosen research methodology will provide useful information after collecting and analyzing data on knowledge, attitude, and experience of nurses and how they affect prioritization of comfort measures for terminally-ill patients in a hospice facility.

2.2 Research Design

This outlines all the basic approaches that a researcher uses to answer his or her research questions. In order to meet the goals and objectives of the study, the researcher is required to choose the most appropriate research design to achieve overall success of the study. The quantitative approach will be used in this study. It results from the belief that human beings and human behavior variables can be objectively studied, and this makes it appropriate for this kind of study. It uses a fixed design which organizes research questions detailed data collection method in advance .Descriptive study design will be appropriate for this study because it will collect detailed information on attitude, experience and knowledge of nurses dealing with dying patients in hospice facilities. The use of questionnaires to collect data form nurses will be the main method of data collection in this study. It will allow for collection of quantitative data that will be used for statistical analysis using computer programs. It will also allow the collection of data from a large sample size without incurring major expenses.

2.3 Sample Size

Cormack (2000) defines population as “the total number of units from which data can poten.............