Attitudes and behaviors of intensive care nurses towards the care of terminal period patients

Aim: This research was conducted in a descriptive and correlational type to examine the attitudes and behaviors of tertiary intensive care unit nurses towards the care of terminal patients. Material and method: The study sample consisted of 235 nurses working in the tertiary adult intensive care units of public and university hospitals in Şanlıurfa. Data were collected between October and December 2021. In the study, data were collected using the 'Nurse Descriptive Characteristics Form' and the 'Attitudes and Behaviors of Intensive Care Nurses towards End-of-Life Care Scale'. Descriptive statistics, parametric tests, Pearson correlation analysis and Simple linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the research data. Statistical significance was interpreted at the 0.05 level in the analyzes. Results: The mean age of the nurses participating in the study was 27.65±3.87. 95.3% of the nurses encountered death in the department where they worked, and 97.9% of them gave care to the patients in the terminal period. 91.1% have knowledge about end-of-life care. In the institution where 54.5% of them work, in-service training on end-of-life care is not organized. While the mean attitude score of intensive care nurses towards end-of-life care was 34.14±5.44, the mean behavior score was 18.28±4.75. The behavior scores of the intensive care nurses according to the hospital they work in, and the attitude and behavior scores of the in-service training on end-of-life care in the institution they work in show a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). A moderate positive correlation was found between the attitude towards end-of-life care and behavioral scores of intensive care nurses (r=0.304). Attitude scores of intensive care nurses towards end-of-life care explain 8.8% of the change in behavioral scores (Adj.R2:0.088). Conclusion: In line with the research findings, it is recommended to organize in-service training programs for end-of-life care that will positively affect the attitudes and behaviors of nurses towards the care of terminal patients and to conduct studies with large sample groups. Keywords: Care, attitude, terminal period, behavior, intensive care nurse