Implementation and Knowledge of the Clinical Practice Guide for Palliative Care in the Ecuadorian Primary Care Level

Tamara Rodríguez Quintana, Viviana Dávalos-Batallas, Ana-Magdalena Vargas-Martínez, Lucelly López, Patricia Bonilla-Sierra, María- de-las-Mercedes Lomas-Campos and Fatima Leon-Larios
Additional contact information
Tamara Rodríguez Quintana: Department of Health Sciences, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja 110107, Ecuador
Viviana Dávalos-Batallas: Department of Health Sciences, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja 110107, Ecuador
Ana-Magdalena Vargas-Martínez: Nursing Department, School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain
Lucelly López: Research Department, School of Medicine, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Calle 78B # 72A-109, Medellín 050001, Colombia
Patricia Bonilla-Sierra: Department of Health Sciences, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja 110107, Ecuador
María- de-las-Mercedes Lomas-Campos: Nursing Department, School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain
Fatima Leon-Larios: Nursing Department, School of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Ecuador assumed the commitment of including Palliative Care (PC) in its health policies. In 2014, the Ministry of Public Health (Ministerio de Salud Pública, MSP) approved the Clinical Practice Guide for Palliative Care ( Guía de Práctica Clínica sobre Cuidados Paliativos , GPCCP), with application at the national level, as a mandatory internal regulation in all institutions belonging to the National Health System. In 2021, there is no evidence about the degree of implementation. The objective was to evaluate the implementation (I) of the GPCCP guide and the knowledge (C) of the health personnel working in the Zone 7 Health Centers (HCs). This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, and prospective study. A total of 292 professionals were interviewed: managers (38), physicians (150), and nurses (104). Three surveys based on the GPCCP guide were elaborated: one for the implementation, which was applied to the individuals in charge, and the others to assess the health professionals’ knowledge. The SPSS program was used, version 25. In the three groups, more than half of the participants had no training in PC, 91.2% of the HCs have the GPCCP guide, there is PC medical history (MH) in 38.2%, and morphine is used in 14.7%. The implementation of the GPCCP guide was inadequate in 52.9% of the cases. Only 25% treat the agony symptoms and 30%, delirium; 4.4% acknowledge the use of morphine in dyspnea, and 13.3% identify the subcutaneous route as the first choice for hydration at the end-of-life phase. Strategies to implement the GPCCP guide and to improve the health personnel’s knowledge must be implemented in Zone 7 centers.

Keywords: clinical practice guide; palliative care; knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11573/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11573/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11573-:d:671797

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().