Improving attitudes and perceived competence in caring for dying patients: An end-of-life simulation
View File(s)
- Author(s)
- Details
-
Megan E. Pfitzinger Lippe, RN
- Sigma Affiliation
- Epsilon Theta
- Contributor Affiliation(s)
- The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Visitor Statistics
Visits vs Downloads
Visitors - World Map
Top Visiting Countries
Country | Visits |
---|
Top Visiting Cities
City | Visits |
---|
Visits (last 6 months)
Downloads (last 6 months)
Popular Works for Lippe, Megan E. Pfitzinger by View
Title | Page Views |
---|
Popular Works for Lippe, Megan E. Pfitzinger by Download
Title | Downloads |
---|
View Citations
Citations
Session presented on Tuesday, November 10, 2015:
Purpose: End-of-life care education is critical for nurses, especially in today's healthcare climate. The End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) has established clear competencies for professional nursing practice regarding the care of patients at the end of life. Yet, undergraduate education about end-of-life care seems to be inadequate. Student's knowledge and attitudes about caring for dying patients have been shown in the literature to be positively impacted by education on end-of-life care. Although didactic education can improve students' end-of-life care knowledge and skills, real-world experiences/approximations are still needed to translate the content into practice to ensure quality patient care is provided. Simulations serve as a reliable proxy for real-world experiences, and can be useful in providing end-of-life care experiences. Current studies describe how hospice focused simulations can positively impact student learning about end-of-life care, but no studies have explored learning outcomes from simulations of adult patients who have unexpectedly become ill and are at the end of life. The purpose of this study was to assess learning outcomes from a simulation emphasizing communication, assessment, and basic nursing skills in providing care to a critically ill patient from whom care is ultimately withdrawn.
Methods: A simulation was created in which three different cohorts of undergraduate nursing students provided care for a critically ill patient and his family whose rapidly declining condition results in the decision to withdraw care. The simulation consisted of four parts: continuation of care for a stable patient in critical care, assessment and communication with physician regarding a change in status, withdrawal of care, and a final cumulative debriefing. A pretest-posttest design compared perceived competence and attitudes in caring for dying patients with students performing the simulation.
Results/Findings: After the simulation, the cohorts had significantly improved scores on the perceived competence (p < .001) and attitude (p < .01) measures. Reliability for a new instrument to assess perceived competence in caring for dying patients, Perceived Competence in Meeting ELNEC Standards, was established, r diff = .93 (pretest Cronbach's = .94, posttest Cronbach's = .93, and r = .04). Factor analysis of the PC-ELNEC showed that the first component accounted for 53 percent of the variance, suggesting that the measure can be considered a unidimensional construct.
Conclusions: All three cohorts had improved competence, and two cohorts had improved attitudes toward caring for dying patients after completing the end-of-life simulation. Students also expressed positive comments following the simulation, particularly highlighting how useful the simulation was in providing them with the opportunity to care for a dying patient before entering professional practice. The outcomes of this study indicate that the simulation is robust in improving students' perceived competence and attitudes about caring for dying patients. The simulation seems to have achieved its objective of providing students with a safe, real-world-like experience to explore attitudes and perceived competence about caring for dying patients.
Acknowledgement: Thank you to Scott Hudson, Sharon Carter, and Raquel Reynolds for their support in running this simulation. Special acknowledgement is also given to G. Kay Pfitzinger for her Excel expertise and verification of data accuracy.
43rd Biennial Convention 2015 Theme: Serve Locally, Transform Regionally, Lead Globally.
Items submitted to a conference/event were evaluated/peer-reviewed at the time of abstract submission to the event. No other peer-review was provided prior to submission to the Henderson Repository, unless otherwise noted.
Type | Presentation |
Acquisition | Proxy-submission |
Review Type | Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host |
Format | Text-based Document |
Evidence Level | N/A |
Research Approach | N/A |
Keywords | End-of-Life; Simulation; Perceived Competence |
Name | 43rd Biennial Convention |
Host | Sigma Theta Tau International |
Location | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA |
Date | 2015 |
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subjects.
-
Comparing active versus vicarious learners' self-efficacy during a pediatric end-of-life simulation
Barger, Stephanie K.; March, Alice L.; Lippe, Megan E. PfitzingerThis presentation describes the comparative effectiveness of vicarious versus active learning on the self-efficacy of pre-licensure nursing students during a pediatric end-of-life simulation. The presentation concludes ... -
End-of-life education in context: Assessing faculty and student characteristics for educational research
Lippe, Megan E. Pfitzinger; Carter, Patricia A. (2017-09-21)The purpose of the presentation is to describe the faculty and student characteristics to assess when conducting research on end-of-life education. A literature review was conducted to identify key characteristics to assess. ... -
Simulated end-of-life: Improving nursing students' attitudes toward care of the dying
Custer, Nicole; Smeltzer, Samantha L.; Clark, Sue; Magee, NathanThis study examines the impact of a death and dying simulation on nursing students' attitude toward care of the dying patient. Students enrolled in a collaborative course taught by theater and nursing faculty utilized ... -
Student characteristics to assess in end-of-life education research
Lippe, Megan E. Pfitzinger; Carter, Patricia A. (2017-10-12)This poster will present the findings of a literature review identifying characteristics of student samples to measure when conducting research in end-of-life nursing education. Gaps in the extant literature will also be ... -
Trends in the Conscious Dying Movement: Integrative Literacies for Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care
Rosa, William E.; Hope, Stephanie; Estes, TarronSeveral trends are inviting a truly integrative-holistic approach to palliative and end-of-life care. These include employing a Conscious Dying philosophy, the increased visibility of End-of-Life Doulas, and the use of ...