Background: End-of-life decision making can be distressing for nursing students, and the purpose of this investigation was to assess undergraduate nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and experiences with advance directives.
Method: One hundred sixty-six Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at four different program levels were surveyed about their knowledge, personal and professional experience, and personal and professional attitudes regarding advance directives.
Results: There was a statistically significant progression of knowledge from the junior 1 to the senior 2 semesters. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in personal attitudes about advance directives by progressive semesters, in personal and professional attitudes between White/Caucasian and Black/African American students, and in knowledge of advance directives and professional attitudes between students 18 to 25 years old and those 26 years and older.
Conclusion: It is important that nursing students are exposed to advance directives in the prelicensure curriculum to prepare them for their role as professional nurses. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(1):35-39.].
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