[Knowledge and attitudes as regards Living Wills between Primary and Specialised Care Doctors in the Ferrol Health Area].

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the knowledge, the experience and the attitudes of the health professionals of Primary (PC) and Specialized (SC) Carein our Health Area with respect to Living Wills (LW).

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Descriptive, cross-sectional study, by means of a survey addressed to PC and SC doctors Ferrol (Galicia, Spain) Health Area

RESULTS

A total of 120 (42.85%) doctors completed the questionnaire.The professionals self-assessed their level of knowledge with a mean of 3.83 (rank from 0 to 10). Only 21 professionals (17.5%) had objective knowledge of LW, that is to say, they fulfilled the following premises: they had read some pieces of LW legislation, had read an LW document and knew the elements that could figure in it. There were differences that verged on the statistical significance in the objective knowledge between PC and SC doctors (11.7% versus 23.3%, P= .093) and between professionals with under 10 years of professional experience and those with more than 10 years (6.9% versus 21.1%, P=.081). These differences reached statistical significance in some of the items that valued the objective knowledge. A few professionals (28 (23.3%)), had explained to their patients the convenience of having written an LW document, and even fewer (8 (6,7%)) had helped patients with writing one.

CONCLUSIONS

The knowledge of health care professionals can be clearly improved. The highest deficiency was found between PC professionals and those with less experience. Nevertheless, they showed a favourable attitude towards them.