Search

The purpose of this article is to identify the knowledge about the Advance Directive (AD) in nurses who work in oncology services. Consequently, an observational study with analytical intention was used as a methodology that measured the level of knowledge through a self-administered questionnaire. 50 nurses participated in it, selected by non-probabilistic sampling. Thus, qualitative variables were analyzed with frequency distributions, and quantitative variables with descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis. The level of knowledge was categorized as follows: 0 to 10 points (low level), 11 to 20 points (medium level), 21 to 30 points (high level). The results of the research showed that, for a group where 86% were women, with an average age of 37 years, the average number of years of experience as nurses was 11.5 years. On the other hand, the average number of years of experience in the oncology area was 6.2 years. Of those who were part of the latter average, 48% had a degree in oncology and 46% specialization. 70% of the participants had a medium knowledge, 26% a high knowledge, and 4% a low level. It is worth mentioning that only the level of postgraduate training was significantly related to the level of knowledge. In conclusion, it was found that nursing professionals have a medium level of knowledge about the legislation that addresses advance directives in Colombia and this is related to the level of training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]