The Decision Not to Resuscitate Order for Terminally Ill Pediatric Patients and Ethics as a Predictor from Undergraduate Students’ Perspective

Abstract Background: Nurses and Doctor of Pharmacy (PhrmD) must communicate and properly documented the do not resuscitate orders for terminally ill children and their relatives. They also have to offer excellent care including more family support, assisting the child with terminally ill disease in passing on peacefully, and preventing unnecessary cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This research was aimed to survey attitudes of nursing and pharmD undergraduate students about the “do not resuscitate” order for children with terminally ill diseases.Method: A cross-sectional correlational design was used. More than 400 nursing and pharmD students were recruited in this study. All the participating students were e-mailed information regarding the study, including the web survey link.Results: Approximately, 60% of the nursing and phrmD students would disclose the need for the do not resuscitate order for children with terminally ill diseases. The results showed that there was a significant difference in perception toward do not resuscitate order between nursing and pharmD students. The pharmD students had more positive attitude toward do not resuscitate than the nursing students. Demographic variables were not associated with the perception toward do not resuscitate orders. Conclusion: This study showed that Jordanian nursing and pharmD students are willing to learn more about different aspects of do not resuscitate orders for terminally ill children. Analyzing their responses to many items showed their misconception about do not resuscitate orders for terminally ill children.