Objective:

to measure the acceptability of a virtual course on palliative care and the impact on knowledge about palliative care, comfort and level of thanatophobia in nursing students.

Methodology:

a mixed methods design was used in which 39 participating nursing students from a public university were included. For quantitative information, the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing scales, the Comfort in palliative care and the Thanatophobia scale were applied before and after taking the virtual course. For qualitative information, five focus groups were held, three before starting the course and two after finishing it.

Results:

It was found that the course significantly increased the level of knowledge in palliative care (p = 0.000), comfort in palliative care (p = 0.000) and decreased levels of thanatophobia (p = 0.005). In addition, four themes were identified that complemented the quantitative results: (a) Understanding and connecting with ICTs: opportunities and limitations; (b) experience the virtual learning teaching process; (c) Perceptions about palliative care; and (d) confrontation at the end of life: person, family and nurse.

Conclusions:

this course was accepted by the students and proved to increase knowledge about palliative care and comfort, in addition to contributing to reduce thanatophobia in the participants. The results show that strategies such as virtual courses, with innovative platforms and tools, can fill the existing gaps in the curricula regarding training in palliative care in Colombia.

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