Knowledge among Primary Care Health Professionals about the-rapeutic resources at the end of life

  1. Hernández Manzano, Cindy María
  2. Angulo Ardoy, María 1
  3. Viloria Jiménez, Aurora 2
  1. 1 SERMAS, Madrid
  2. 2 Equipo de Soporte Hospitalario, Hospital Universtiario Clínico San Carlos, Madrid
Journal:
Revista Española de Educación Médica

ISSN: 2660-8529

Year of publication: 2024

Issue Title: Spanish Journal of Medical Education

Volume: 5

Issue: 2

Pages: 54-67

Type: Article

DOI: 10.6018/EDUMED.600401 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDIGITUM editor

More publications in: Revista Española de Educación Médica

Abstract

Regulation on Living Wills, Therapeutic Effort Limitation, Palliative Sedation) and Euthanasia have undergone deep changes in the last years. Primary Care professionals should give information and apply those options, but previous research shows their knowledge may be inadequate. Our goal is to describe Primary Care professionals knowledge on options of last resort. An autoadministered questionaire was delivered to Family Practices, Family Nurses, Pediatricians and students or interns of any of the forementioned in six Primary Care Health Centers in the region of Madrid, consisting on 40 true/false questions. Percentage of correct answers, those under 75% of correct answers and age and profession differences were analysed. We got 54 valid answers with no data missing. Median percentage of correct answers was 81,5%, with no significative differences among topics, and some while considering age or profession. Eleven questions got less than a 50% and four between 50-75% correct answers. Differences were observed in three questions when age was considered and in four when profession was. Our sample may not be representative, but questions with less than 50% correct answers remain consistent with previous research. Mistaking therapeutic effort limitation and palliative sedation, morphine usage in sedation or euthanasia or what the advice and requirements for those resources are, have been found the least known. Further training of Primary Care professionals on their legal obligations, when to use and how to apply end of life options should be performed.

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