End of life decisions: Attitudes of physicians and nurses in Turkey

Although the decision-makers regarding the end-of-life treatment and care are often the patient themselves or their relatives, physicians and nurses are also consulted for their views on treatment and care upon their medical experience. Therefore, the present study attempted to explore the attitudes of Turkish physicians and nurses to end-of-life decisions and variables affecting their such attitudes. This cross-sectional study was carried out with 870 (450 physicians, 420 nurses) participants conveniently selected from medical chambers and nursing associations in Turkey. In addition to a demographic form, the data were collected using a demographic information form and the End-of-life Decisions Survey (EDS) for physicians and nurses developed by Stoeckle et al. upon obtaining relevant permissions and validity and reliability analyses. The findings revealed that age, gender, marital status, and having a child were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) demographic variables regarding perceptions, beliefs, and practices of end-of-life decisions. Nevertheless, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in perceptions, beliefs, and practices of end-of-life decisions by education, occupation, department, and income level. 1.6% of the participants left a medical power of attorney, 83.2% needed additional training on the subject, 46.7% started negotiations about end-of-life decisions at least once, 43.7% It was determined that physicians and 41.8% thought that patients should initiate interviews about end-of-life decisions. Overall, the findings reveal an extensive training need of healthcare professionals in end-of-life decisions, the urgency of putting authorization statements into practice, and the importance of hospital ethics committees.