Knowledge attitude and nursing practice of assistance to patients at end of life in medicine departments of Hubert-K.-Maga teaching hospital Cotonou (Benin)

Introduction: Palliative care is a new concept in the practice of the nursing in Benin. The objectives of our work were to estimate the knowledge and to list the nursing practices regarding support of patients at the end of life. Materials and methods: This descriptive transverse study took place from 15/08 to 30/09/2014. It concerned all the nurses practicing in the department of medicine of the national university hospital Hubert-K.-Maga in Cotonou. Results: A total of 28 nurses were investigated. Only eight knew the notion of end of life (28,6%), among who seven had declared that the main needs were to relieve pain (87,5%). Seventy-five percent declared they had never participated in supporting a patient at the end of life. Conclusion: Support of patients at the end of life is underestimated by the nursing staff. The needs for training of staff in this domain is thus necessary.