Factors related to palliative care implementation among multinational nurses in a tertiary care hospital in the United Arab Emirates

Worldwide, the need for palliative care is rapidly increasing due to an ageing population and increases in life limiting diseases. Palliative care is underdeveloped in most of the world, especially in developing countries in the Middle East and Asia. Although United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an oil-rich country that has the economic potential to provide the state of the art health care to its population, it has underdeveloped palliative care due to minimal provision and integration within the health care system. It is in its infantile phase, hampered by out-of-date laws on resuscitation, misplaced fears over opiate addiction, inadequate palliative care education and training to the medical professionals, lack of supporting policies, unstandardized care practices and other factors.
Nurses play an integral part in the delivery of palliative care to their patients and families. There are multiple factors influencing the effectiveness of the nurse’s role in the successful delivery of palliative care. Given the context of the cultural background of both the international population of nurses working in the UAE; it is crucial to assess the factors associated with the delivery of palliative care in the population of nurses working in CCAD. Understanding the factors will facilitate planning for appropriate training programs and system changes in palliative care delivery.

Author(s): Jacqueline Yammine

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