Status of Palliative Care Course in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Nursing Programs: Practice of Turkey

Introduction: This study aims to analyze the curriculum of palliative care courses in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programs in our country. Methods: The population of the research included 207 public and private universities in Turkey. “Bologno Information System” packages of universities, which had undergraduate (n=104) and/or postgraduate (n=59) nursing programs, were searched online within the scope of the research. As a result of searching, it was found that 36 undergraduate and 24 postgraduate nursing programs contained palliative care course in these universities. The courses were evaluated with the “Course Evaluation Form” and data were recorded. The data were analyzed in the SPSS program, and number and percentage distributions were used to evaluate both descriptive features and content of the courses. Results: The sample of the study consisted of a total of 60 universities (36 undergraduate and 24 postgraduate nursing programs) which had palliative care courses. It was determined that most of the courses in the nursing undergraduate programs (94.44%) were elective courses, and most of the courses in the postgraduate program (62.5%) were compulsory courses. It was determined that 36.11% of the courses in the undergraduate programs and all of the courses in the postgraduate programs were given in the first and second semesters. It was determined that 44.44% of the undergraduate programs were using mixed education methods, and 54.17% of postgraduate programs were using face-to-face education method. It was found that the courses in both undergraduate and graduate programs included symptom management, palliative care and communication, palliative care and family, palliative care and ethics, using complementary/alternative medicine, end-of-life care and mourning/bereavement process. Conclusion: When undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programs which had palliative care course in Turkey were evaluated, it was determined thar there were differences according to scope and content of course, European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, semester of course, and also there was no standardization about education of palliative care nursing.