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Utilization of palliative care principles in nursing home care: Educational interventions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2015

Berit Seiger Cronfalk ,
Britt-Marie Ternestedt ,
Lise-Lotte Franklin Larsson ,
Eva Henriksen ,
Astrid Norberg  and
Jane Österlind
Berit Seiger Cronfalk*
Affiliation:
Ersta Sköndal University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Karolinska Institutet, Department of Oncology–Pathology, Stockholm, Sweden Stord Haugesund University College, Department of Nursing Science, Haugesund, Norway
Britt-Marie Ternestedt
Affiliation:
Ersta Sköndal University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Science and Society, Stockholm, Sweden
Lise-Lotte Franklin Larsson
Affiliation:
Ersta Sköndal University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Sophiahemmet University College, Department of Nursing Science, Stockholm, Sweden
Eva Henriksen
Affiliation:
Stockholm County Council, Research and Development FOUnu, Stockholm, Sweden
Astrid Norberg
Affiliation:
Ersta Sköndal University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Umeå University, Department of Nursing, Umeå, Sweden
Jane Österlind
Affiliation:
Ersta Sköndal University College, Palliative Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Berit Seiger Cronfalk, Ersta Sköndal högskola, P.O. Box 11189, SE-10061 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: berit.cronfalk@ki.se and berit.seigercronfalk@esh.se
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Abstract

Objective:

This study is part of the overarching PVIS (Palliative Care in Nursing Homes) project aimed at building competence in palliative care for nursing home staff. Our objective was to describe nursing home staff's attitudes to competence-building programs in palliative care.

Method:

Three different programs were developed by specialist staff from three local palliative care teams. In all, 852 staff at 37 nursing homes in the greater Stockholm area participated. Staff from 7 nursing homes participated in 11 focus-group discussions. Variation in size between the seven nursing homes initiated purposeful selection of staff to take part in the discussions, and descriptive content analysis was used.

Results:

The results suggest that staff reported positive experiences as they gained new knowledge and insight into palliative care. The experiences seemed to be similar independent of the educational program design. Our results also show that staff experienced difficulties in talking about death. Enrolled nurses and care assistants felt that they carried out advanced care without the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge. Further, the results also suggest that lack of support from ward managers and insufficient collaboration and of a common language between different professions caused tension in situations involved in caring for dying people.

Significance of results:

Nursing home staff experienced competence-building programs in palliative care as useful. Even so, further competence is needed, as is long-term implementation strategies and development of broader communication skills among all professions working in nursing homes.

Keywords

Palliative careNursing home staffCompetence-building programs
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 13 , Issue 6 , December 2015 , pp. 1745 - 1753
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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