Original Article A Japanese Region-wide Survey of the Knowledge, Difficulties and Self-reported Palliative Care Practices Among Nurses

Objective: We investigated palliative care knowledge, difficulty and self-reported practice among a region-wide sample of nurses who cared for cancer patients in Japan. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was distributed to 9 designated cancer centers, 17 community hospitals and 73 district nurse services across 4 regions in 2008. We used the Palliative Care Knowledge Test, the Palliative Care Difficulty Scale (five-point Likert scale) and the Palliative Care Self-Reported Practices Scale (five-point Likert scale). Results: In total, 2378 out of 3008 nurses (79%) responded. The knowledge, difficulty and self-reported practice scores were 51+ 20%, 3.2+ 0.7 and 3.7+ 0.6, respectively. In the knowledge test, philosophy scored highest (88+ 26%) and psychiatric problems scored lowest (37+29%). In the difficulty test, alleviating symptoms scored most difficult (3.5+0.8) and providing expert support scored least difficult (2.9+ 1.3). In the self-reported practice questionnaire, pain and delirium relief were most frequently (4.0+ 0.8) and least frequentl