Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

There is currently a lack of information available on organ donation that is relevant to nursing students. This descriptive study tests the hypothesis that including additional material through a blackboard course will increase knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) of nursing students to better prepare the soon to be nurses for the delicacy of organ donation.

A previous literature review identified the problems associated with organ donation that nursing students should be taught about in their nursing education. Those problems identified became the backbone to the blackboard course. The blackboard course also focused on the QSEN competencies, which allowed for a focus on KSAs essential for nursing students to become acquainted with organ donation.

The research was conducted using the modified survey, the Nursing Students Organ Donation Questionnaire 2016. The pre-post survey consisted of 47 questions that test the students’ current KSAs related to organ donation. The population for the study was the senior level nursing course, Nursing of the Critically Ill. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group received the traditional lecture and the experimental group received the supplementary blackboard course. While all the data has not been conducted at this time, the results will be analyzed using an independent t-test.

As organ donation is becoming an ever increasing healthcare priority, education that begins in nursing school is crucial. By exposing students to the delicate situations related to organ donation, the students will be more comfortable when facing this process in their nursing career.

Problem and Significance: Facing the end of one’s life brings about many unique questions, concerns and uncertainties. Research shows that many uncertainties are spiritual in nature, however, there is confusion about what spiritual uncertainty means for people with nonreligious beliefs such as atheism. Nurses are expected to provide spiritual care to all patients, including those with atheistic views but research about atheistic perspectives of spirituality, uncertainty, and the end of life are limited.

Method: The parent study used phenomenology to understand how uncertainty affected six hospice patients. Most participants described Western religious beliefs but one individual described himself as atheist. This analysis will utilize case study methods to conduct an in-depth analysis of one atheistic account of end-of-life uncertainties. Data will be triangulated with other research and sources of popular culture.

Results: Findings will describe how one participant with an atheistic viewpoint experienced uncertainty related to his approaching death and how those experiences compare with accounts in previous research and popular culture.

Conclusion: Nurses are expected to provide holistic care to patients that includes spirituality yet little is known about patients with atheistic beliefs. This analysis begins to address this gap since having an awareness of how people diversely anticipate and experience the end of life is crucial to all providers of end of life care.