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Nurses knowledge of palliative care: systematic review and meta-analysis
  1. Ling Li1,
  2. Fang Wang2,
  3. Qian Liang1,
  4. Lunwei Lin1 and
  5. Xiaoling Shui1
  1. 1 School of Nursing, Chengdu University of TCM, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
  2. 2 Director's Office, Guang'an Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guang'an, Sichuan, China
  1. Correspondence to Fang Wang; wangf7640{at}163.com

Abstract

Lack of knowledge about palliative care is one of the most common reasons for hindering the delivery of high-quality palliative care. Nurses play a major role in providing palliative care, and the degree of their mastery of this knowledge is crucial to whether they can effectively deliver the ideal palliative care. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the level of palliative care knowledge in this population. As of 8 November 8, 2022, we performed systematic searches in 10 databases. Meta-analysis of quantitative data that measuring the level of palliative care knowledge of nurses using the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) was conducted using Stata software (version: V.15). A pooled mean score <10 indicated a low/insufficient knowledge level. The funnel plot and Egger’s regression test were used to detect publication bias, and finally, the robustness of the results was evaluated through sensitivity analysis. The pooled mean score for the level of nurses’ knowledge of palliative care was 9.68 (95% CI: 9.40 to 9.96). Among the three dimensions of the PCQN scale, the pooled mean score for the ‘“Philosophy and Principles of Palliative Care’” section was 1.73 (95% CI: 1.38 to 2.08); the ‘“Pain and Other Symptom Control’” section was 6.73 (95% CI: 6.41 to 7.05); and the ‘“Psychological, Spiritual and Social Care’” section was 1.21 (95% CI: 0.72 to 1.69). It can be seen that nurses’ mastery of palliative care knowledge is not sufficient. It is recommended that relevant departments formulate and promote the implementation of targeted measures to improve the knowledge level of this population.

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Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as online supplemental information.

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Data availability statement

All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as online supplemental information.

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Footnotes

  • Contributors LiL: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, software, validation, visualisation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, guarantor . FW: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, project administration, supervision, validation, writing—review and editing. XS: data curation, investigation, methodology, writing—original draft. QL: methodology, software, visualisation. LuL: formal analysis, investigation, validation.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.