Paper
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
This presentation is part of : Palliative Care Strategies
Apprehension levels of Chinese and American Nurses in caring for the dying Patient. An International Study
Krista Reyna, MS, BSN, Nursing, Mercy Health Center, Oklahoma city, OK, USA, Gary Dean Parker, MS, BSN, Research and Education, MERCY HEALTH CENTER, Oklahoma City, OK, USA, Chris Weigel, MS, BSN, Mercy Health Center, Oklahoma city, OK, USA, and Linda Theresa Fanning, BSN, RN, MS, Nursing Administration, Mercy Health Center, Oklahoma, OK, USA.
Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to understand how culture and training of Chinese and American nurses yeild differnces and similarities in caring for dying patients.
Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to understand how the PEAS is used, and how it can be used to measure apprehension in their own nurses.

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to investigate what similarities and differnces there were in  apprehension levels in nurses form China and The United States, in regards to caring for the dying patient. Another area investigated is how culture may play a part in these nurses’ attitudes. 
Method  

183 nurses representing 11 units from The Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, China and 151Nurses representing 7 units from Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in The United Sates were administered the Professional End-of-Life care Attitude Scale (PEAS). The PEAS allows us to identify the level of apprehension nurses have in caring for dying patients.  The PEAS will also allow us to measure differences in attitudes by professional degree, gender, and years of experience.  
Results  

A series of one way ANOVAs and Z –tests showed that there is similarities across cultures in perceived apprehension in interacting with dying patients, whether it is framed in terms of personal impact or in light of one’s professional role as a nurse/health care provider.  Generally, this speaks to the universality of the apprehension health care professionals feel about interacting with terminally ill persons and their families, irrespective of the cultural context in which such interactions occur.
  Conclusion  

 This is the first time a study of this magnitude has been conducted comparing nurse’s attitudes in China and the United States concerning the care of the dying patient.  These results will help nurses not only in China and The United States, but all nurses who care for dying patients. This data shows that there should be more direct contact for all nurses in regards to end of life care, no matter their country of origin.