Introduction:

Chronically ill kidney patients are forced to make decisions all throughout their lives. In this process, healthcare professionals often do not ask them how they would like to plan the end of their days. In today's society “no limitation to therapeutic effort” seems to be a constant in clinical practice, so reflecting on one's own limits could help in patient care.

Objective:

To determine the degree of knowledge and interest in advance care planning among professionals caring for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Material and Method:

Cross-sectional descriptive observational study using a nationwide self-administered questionnaire to health care volunteers. The questionnaire included 22 questions on knowledge of and interest in advance care planning.

Results:

422 professionals replied: 53.3% physicians; 45.0% nurses and 1.4% auxiliary nursing care technicians. 79.9% did not know how many patients have registered an advance directives document. 63.5% had heard of advance care planning. 28.7% were aware of the difference between advance care planning and the advance directive. 96.2% affirmed that having this information would help patients to be better cared for in the last days of their life. 97.6% of the professionals thought that they could do more and 94.5% would like to receive training.

Conclusion:

There is a lack of knowledge and a significant interest among healthcare professionals in advance care planning.

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