Knowledge and comfort related to palliative care among Indonesian primary health care providers

This study investigated Indonesian primary health care providers' knowledge and comfort towards palliative care. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. From August 2017 to February 2018, the research team approached 70 primary care centres in the Yogyakarta province of Indonesia and invited health care providers to complete the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing-Indonesia and describe their comfort in caring for terminally ill patients. Data were obtained from 516 health care providers. The mean (±s.d.) score of palliative care knowledge was low (7.8 ± 3.3 of a possible score of 20). Current comfort level in providing palliative care was also low (1.6 ± 2.7 of a possible score of 10). Only 11.3% of palliative care knowledge was explained by respondents understanding of palliative care definition, their education levels and experience in providing palliative care in hospital. However, 82.9% of provider comfort was explained by their experiences for caring for terminally ill patients in primary healthcare centres, palliative care training and years of work experience in primary healthcare centres. Indonesian evidence-based palliative care standards and guidelines must be established with education offered to all providers.