Grado de conocimiento y actitudes de los profesionales ante el Documento de Voluntades Anticipadasdiferencias entre distintos profesionales y provincias de una misma autonomía

Resumen

Objectives. Primary: To determine the differences, by occupational category and province, in the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals on the Living Wills Document (LWD) in 4 Andalusian provinces: Cordoba, Jaen, Cadiz, and Granada. Secondary: To determine the number of documents prepared in these areas and the number consulted in terminal situations. Material and methods. Descriptive observational multicenter study, with 17 health areas in 4 Andalusian provinces. Target population: Family doctors, nurses and social workers of the areas studied (n = 340). Interventions Validated self-administered questionnaire about advance directives. Descriptive and bivariate (×2) analysis of data was performed. Results. Mean age 46 ± 8.8 years, 53.2% women. Physicians 56.1%, nurses 41.1%, social workers 2.6%. The mean score (0-10) of their knowledge was 5.42 ± 2.41, with 78.4% believing that LWD are regulated in Andalusia (provinces differences, P = .001). More than one-third (36.7%) had read the document (differences by occupation, P = .001). The mean score on the advantage of preparing a LWD for the patient was 8.27 ± 2.16 (significant differences between provinces P = .02). Mean score about the practitioner would respect the wishes of a patient in a LWD was 9.14 ± 1.64 (significant difference between provinces P = .03). The mean score of the question about expressing the desires of the professional on preparing their LWD in the following year was 4.85 ± 3.74 (P = .02). Conclusions. There are different behaviors between professions on reading the LWD. There are differences between provinces in the following aspects: whether the documents are regulated, whether the professionals prepare the LWD, and whether the professionals respects the provisions of the LWD.