Integration of Palliative Care in Hospitals of Lubumbashi: Nurses Opinion

Palliative care (PC) should be the excellence model for all patients with progressive and potentially life-threatening illness, as the focus is on alleviating suffering and support, to ensure the best possible quality of life for patients and families. This study aims tostrengthen the skills needed to practice the palliative approach and hinders the integration of this approach in the various health facilities in Lubumbashi and the level of integration into the health system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a descriptive multicenter cross-sectional study conducted in four large hospitals in the city of Lubumbashi betweenNovember 2016 to July 2017. Data collection was performed on the basis of a questionnaire andall datacollected were captured using Epi Info and analyzed with SPSS 23. According to this study, 100 % of nurses did not recognizethe integration of palliative care services, 64.3 % say there was no palliative approach as management strategy, three cases prevented integration of the above approach the health care system is focused on curative and preventive care (49.1 %), cultural and financial burdens (25.9 %) and the fact that teaching does not deal with aspects of palliative care. Almost 100 % had proposed that the integration of palliative care takes place at the second and third level. Given the increase in chronic diseases in Africa in general and the DRC in particular, it would be desirable to create a culture where palliative care would be considered a necessary part of all health care systems.