Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Caring for Dying Patients and Their Families

Purpose: While there have been significant developments to include end-of-life (EoL) care education within various nursing curricula, undergraduate nursing students indicate they lack the communication skills and competence to care for dying patients and their families. As our population ages, nurses are required to assess and manage an increasing number of patients with complex disease processes and co-morbidities. The purpose of this study is to identify Level I, Level II, and Level III Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students’ attitudes toward caring for dying patients and their families. The assessment of nursing students’ attitudes toward EoL care is important to the nursing profession as it may impact nursing education which in turn may result in better quality of care. It is necessary to document if differences exist among students from different levels to determine whether a need exists for implementation of EoL care education within the nursing curricula.

Methods: A comparative descriptive study utilized the Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale, Form B (FATCOD-B) to garner Level I, Level II, and Level III Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students’ attitudes toward caring for dying patients and their families. A brief description of the study, the FATCOD-B survey and a demographic data sheet was disseminated via Qualtrics survey software to BSN students enrolled in the first semester of Level I, Level II and Level III nursing curriculum.

Results: Level I students’ scores were higher indicating a more positive attitude. Students whose religious beliefs had a minor influence on their attitude toward death and dying had statistically higher FATCOD scores (m=126, p=.021) than those whose religious beliefs did not influence their attitude (m=113). n comparing Level I, Level II and Level III students who received previous EoL education, no significant difference was found. Although there were no significant statistical differences in attitudes towards caring for the dying among Level I, Level II, and Level III students, this finding supports the need to introduce end-of-life education beginning with first-year nursing students and progressing throughout the three years of nursing education.

Conclusion: The current need for undergraduate end-of-life education has been well documented and supported by the findings from this study. There is a universal need for nurses to be competent in providing compassionate, evidence-based end-of-life care, and nursing programs have the responsibility to educate undergraduates in this. The clinical implications for nursing education in the literature and this pilot help to provide support for consideration of integration of end-of-life care education into nursing curricula. The findings from this study, although not statistically significant by levels, provide support for implementation of EoL education across all levels. In addition, the lack of EoL education amongst all levels in this study reflects a knowledge gap and a need for EoL education. Embedding EoL education throughout the curriculum should improve attitudes towards caring for dying patients.