Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude Towards the Palliative Care Among Nurses in Sri Lanka: A Hospital-Based Study

Objective: Palliative care is an intervention that improves the quality of life of patients. Nurses have a primary role in providing palliative care. Their knowledge and attitudes toward palliative care is important in care delivery. There is minimal information in Sri Lanka to document the knowledge and attitude of palliative care among nurses. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of palliative care among nurses in Sri Lanka. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted on 200 selected nurses at Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Socio-demographic information of the study participants was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire. The awareness and attitude levels toward the PC were assessed using the Palliative Care Knowledge Test (PCKT) and Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying, respectively. Results: More than half of the participants (55%) had an inadequate knowledge level regarding the palliative care (<50% for the PCKT score). Regarding the attitude on the palliative care, the majority stated nursing care to a dying person is a worthwhile experience (92%; n  =  184). Many of them disagreed with avoiding the care of dying patients (strongly disagree: 37%; n  =  74, disagree: 52.5%; n  =  105). Overall, 85.5% of study participants had a positive attitude towards the palliative care. According to binary logistic regression, gender (P  =  .04; OR = 3.57; CI  =  1.03-12.41) and working setup (P < .001) were significantly associated with having a positive attitude. The knowledge level was higher among nurses working in surgical wards (OR = 7.84). Those with >10 years of experience were statistically significant to have a positive attitude (P  =  .02; OR = 1.35; CI  =  1.13-5.50). Conclusion: The nurses had inadequate knowledge of the PC even though they had a positive attitude toward it. Therefore, it is essential to uplift the awareness level among health workers. This warrants the need for palliative care education in the nursing curriculum and continuous professional development.