Understanding the Problems of Death and Dying: A Health Professionals' Attitude Survey

Health Care providers deal daily with the subject of death and dying. They must be able to face their own deaths with dignity as well as aiding patients in coping with death. The Veterans Administration InterWest Regional Medical Center (IRMEC), Salt Lake City, Utah, designed a three-day educational experience on "Understanding the Problems of Death and Dying." Recognizing the importance of the role of attitudes in the effectiveness of workshops, a survey in the effectiveness of workshop instrument was used as a pre-workshop indicator of participants' attitudes. The attitude instrument also served to focus the participants on death and dying issues and concerns relative to the workshop. The same instrument was administered following the conference experience to assess any attitudinal shifts. This article gives the results of the survey, compares it to a national survey published in Nursing 74 and discusses implications for future IRMEC educational events.