• Min-Chun Lee, Yong-Chuan Chen, Chao-Huei Chen, Frank Leigh Lu, Chien-Chou Hsiao, and Niang-Huei Peng.
• Chief of Department of Pediatric, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Instructor of Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan, ROC.
• Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2016 Apr 1; 33 (3): 264-71.

BackgroundEducation and training are very critical to development of high-quality neonatal palliative care. However, little investigation has been done into Taiwanese neonatal clinicians' educational needs regarding neonatal palliative care.PurposesThe purposes of this study were to characterize and identify neonatal clinicians' educational needs regarding neonatal palliative care.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive surveyed method via a self administered questionnaire was used in this research. Thirty neonatologists were recruited by a convenience sampling and 30 nurses were recruited by a randomized sampling.ResultsOut of sixty neonatal clinicians' survey, few had received the education in neonatal palliative care. Most reported minimal training in, experience with, and knowledge of neonatal palliative care. For neonatologists, two of twelve most strongly-felt educational needs were "discussing palliative care and ethical decision-making with parents" (70%) and "informing parents the poor progress in neonates" (63.3%). In contrast, neonatal nurses wanted more training regarding pain control (50%). Communication skills, including the discussing poor prognosis, bad news, and code status and talking with neonates about end-of-life care, were the educational need most commonly felt by both neonatologists and nurses.ConclusionsSurvey data from neonatologists and neonatal nurses in Taiwan indicate a need for further training on a range of neonatal palliative care competencies.© The Author(s) 2014.

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