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Palliative care in Mozambique: Physicians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices

BACKGROUND: Palliative care is an essential part of medical practice but it remains limited, inaccessible, or even absent in low and middle income countries. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the general knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Mozambican physicians on palliative care. METHODS: A cross–sectiona...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pinto, Emilia, Marcos, Gustavo, Walters, Camila, Gonçalves, Ferraz, Sacarlal, Jahit, Castro, Luisa, Rego, Guilhermina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7446778/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32833987
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238023
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Palliative care is an essential part of medical practice but it remains limited, inaccessible, or even absent in low and middle income countries. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the general knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Mozambican physicians on palliative care. METHODS: A cross–sectional observational study was conducted between August 2018 and January 2019 in the 3 main hospitals of Mozambique, in addition to the only hospital with a standalone palliative care service. Data was collected from a self-administered survey directed to physicians in services with oncology patients. RESULTS: Two hundred and seven out of 306 physicians surveyed answered the questionnaire. The median physician age was 38 years. Fifty-five percent were males, and 49.8% residents. The most common medical specialty was surgery with 26.1%. Eighty percent of physicians answered that palliative care should be provided to patients when no curative treatments are available; 87% believed that early integration of palliative care can improve patients’ quality of life; 73% regularly inform patients of a cancer diagnosis; 60% prefer to inform the diagnosis and prognosis to the family/caregivers. Fifty percent knew what a “do-not-resuscitate” order is, and 51% knew what palliative sedation is. Only 25% of the participants answered correctly all questions on palliative care general knowledge, and only 24% of the participants knew all answers about euthanasia. CONCLUSIONS: Mozambican physicians in the main hospitals of Mozambique have cursory knowledge about palliative care. Paternalism and the family-centered model are the most prevalent. More interventions and training of professionals are needed to improve palliative care knowledge and practice in the country.