Abstract

Many nursing students report a lack of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in providing end of life care. Research suggests when nursing students are provided with education on end of life care they demonstrate improvements in their attitudes and ability to provide this type of care. The purpose of this quality improvement study was to determine if undergraduate nursing students had improvements in their attitudes with regard to end of life care following an educational initiative that included both didactic and simulation components. Eighty baccalaureate nursing students at Stony Brook University were invited to participate in the end-of-life care educational intervention. A pre-test/post-test design was employed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Analysis of the data showed that the student nurses had a statistically significant improvement in their attitudes after receiving education on end of life care. As educators it is important to prepare nursing students with education on end of life care before entering clinical practice.