Perceived Palliative Care Needs of Cancer Patients, Nurses and Domiciliary Care Providers at a National Cancer Referral Facility, Sri Lanka

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among all populations and patients need special care while care providers need special skills and resources; all this constitutes a challenge especially in resource limited settings. The study describes the perceptions of cancer patients, nurses and domiciliary care providers (DCPs) with respect to palliative care needs of adult cancer patients and to identify the levels of patients satisfaction with regards to care received at the National Institute of Cancer, Maharagam (NICM), Sri Lanka. METHODS: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey using both interviewer-administered and self-administered validated questionnaires to collect data from 124 patients, 100 nurses and 100 DCPs at the ICM. The level of satisfaction was identified using a rating scale and percentages were compute d. RESUL TS: We found that 68% of patients reported that their most common need was pain relief followed by interpersonal relationship (60%) and majority (86%) confirmed that these were adequately met. 70% of the patients expressed full satisfaction with the psychological support they received. Only 54% of nurses surveyed expressed satisfaction with the care they provided. Most nurses (96%) had not attended any educational program on palliative care, and 94% of DCPs expressed the need to improve their knowledge and skills on palliative care. All DCPs thought that patients have care needs other than the treatment, mainly pain relief. DCPs thought that all patients were satisfied with the care they provided. CONCLUSION: Palliative care needs of adult cancer patients were well identified by the nurses and the level of patients' satisfaction was high. However 96% of the nurses had not attended any educational program on palliative care and felt in-service training program can help to improve their knowledge, Although DCPs were satisfied with the services they provided, they too thought that their knowledge was not adequate.