Emergency Providers' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Hospice and Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Across 35 Emergency Departments in the United States
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online September, 2023
Emergency Providers' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Hospice and Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Across 35 Emergency Departments in the United States
Emergency providers' knowledge and attitudes may be a barrier to adopting hospice and palliative care practice.
Objective:
To assess provider characteristics associated with knowledge and attitudes toward hospice and palliative care (KAHP).
Design:
Cross-sectional analysis.
Setting/Subjects:
Emergency physicians, advanced practice providers (APPs), and nurses from 35 U.S. emergency departments (EDs) enrolled in a provider-focused intervention.
Measurement:
The outcome measures were the total and subscale scores of the KAHP scale. The predictor variables were age, sex, race/ethnicity, and years of practice. We reported the observed association using a linear mixed-effects regression model.
Results:
The mean KAHP score, rated from 10 to 50, was 36. Increased years of practice were associated with increased mean self-reported knowledge and attitudes scores among APPs and nurses.
Conclusion:
Understanding the provider characteristics associated with hospice and palliative care adoption in the ED may inform the development of interventions for specific providers.
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03424109).
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