The quality of palliative care given to terminally ill patients and their family members can be directly impacted by the attitudes\nthat nurses hold towards palliative care.This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of nonpalliative care nurses towards death\nand dying in the context of palliative care. Nurses working within the medical aged care, cardiology and respiratory wards at two\nmetropolitan teaching hospitals in Sydney completed the Frommelt Attitudes Towards Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale, an\nanonymous self-administered questionnaire, and a twelve-item demographic questionnaire. A total of 95 completed surveys were\nused in the final analysis. The total FATCOD score was 119.8 �± 11.1, patient FATCOD was 79.6 �± 8.6, and family FATCOD was\n40.2 �± 4.4. Of significance, the professional variables designation and role were associated with attitudes in the total FATCOD and\ncountry of birth, designation, highest level of education, and rolewere associatedwith attitudes towards the patient FATCOD. Scores\nfor communication between the nurse and the terminally ill patient were poor. Health care facilities should focus on developing\nstrategies to improve the communication skills among nonpalliative care nurses in order to optimize patient outcomes.
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