Care home managers’ knowledge of palliative care: a Northern Irish study

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine care home managers' knowledge of palliative care using the palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN). Background: Palliative care is strongly advocated for all people living with advancing incurable illness. Within acare home setting there should be a particular emphasis on the importance of palliative care, particularly for those residents who, because of their advancing age, are likely to live with non-malignant diseases such as dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart failure to name a few. Methods: Before the beginning of a workshop on optimising palliative care for people living in care homes, 56 care home managers (all nurses) completed the PCQN, a validated questionnaire that is used to assess a nurse's knowledge of palliative care, as part of a learning exercise. Results: The quiz consisted of 20 questions for which participants could answer true, false or don't know. The average score was 12.89 correct answers out of a possible 20 (64.45%). Conclusion: This study highlights the need to develop the knowledge and competence of care home managers in relation to palliative care. This is particularly important given the increasing number of people who are living with non-malignant disease within a care home setting.