• Niang-Huei Peng, Chao-Huei Chen, Li-Chi Huang, Hsin-Li Liu, Min-Chun Lee, and Ching-Ching Sheng.
• Nursing College in Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: forever.pal.lily@gmail.com.
• Nurse Educ Today. 2013 Dec 1; 33 (12): 1506-10.

BackgroundStudies have shown that education can improve the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of neonatal nurses regarding neonatal palliative care. However, no study has investigated the need for neonatal nurse education in neonatal palliative care in Taiwan.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to explore neonatal nurses' experiences in caring for dying neonates and their educational backgrounds regarding palliative care, as well as to assess their educational needs.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was used for this research. A research structural questionnaire was used to investigate the research goals.ResultsOne hundred fifteen nurses participated in this survey. Few participants indicated having received neonatal palliative care education (13%), but most responded that palliative care is necessary in neonatal nursing education (97.4%). Participants also responded that they were often or always exposed to death in NICU (62.6%), but few reported providing pain management to dying neonates (8.7%) and few had experience providing symptomatic care for dying neonates (19.1%). Fifty percent ranked "pain control" as the area in which they most required training. Another high-ranked need was in discussing with parents and families the outcomes of CPR and their neonate's progress.ConclusionResearch indicates that the education currently provided to neonatal nurses does not meet their distinctive needs. Neonatal nurses in Taiwan expressed an urgent desire for training in pain control and communication. Research suggests that the most important topics to trainees are pain management and end-of-life communication. Additionally, non-pharmacological pain control interventions are valuable and should be included in an educational program.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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