A Japanese region-wide survey of the knowledge, difficulties and self-reported palliative care practices among nurses.

Objective: We investigated palliative care knowledge, difficulty and self-reported practice among a region-wide sample of nurses who cared for cancer patients in Japan.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was distributed to 9 designated cancer centers, 17 community hospitals and 73 district nurse services across 4 regions in 2008. We used the Palliative Care Knowledge Test, the Palliative Care Difficulty Scale (five-point Likert scale) and the Palliative Care Self-Reported Practices Scale (five-point Likert scale).