Understanding the acute care context to inform palliative care improvements: a qualitative study of hospital-based multidisciplinary clinicians.

Background: Population ageing and rising levels of non-communicable diseases are increasing the number of people living with and dying from advanced serious illnesses globally. Many of these people are hospitalised more than once in their last year of life. While there is sound evidence on what pati...

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Publicado en:BMC Palliative Care Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17
Autores principales: Virdun, Claudia, Singh, Gursharan K., Yates, Patsy, Phillips, Jane L., Mudge, Alison
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: BioMed Central 7/2/2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: 7/2/2025
      vid: 24
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      pub: BioMed Central
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        186335863
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        186335863
        10.1186/s12904-025-01815-1
        186335863
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        atl: Understanding the acute care context to inform palliative care improvements: a qualitative study of hospital-based multidisciplinary clinicians.
      aug:
        au:
          Virdun, Claudia
          Singh, Gursharan K.
          Yates, Patsy
          Phillips, Jane L.
          Mudge, Alison
        affil: https://ror.org/01kpzv902 Palliative & End of Life Care, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and member, Flinders Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death, and Dying, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
      sug:
        subj:
          Quality Improvement
          Palliative Care
          Acute Care
          Attitude of Health Personnel Evaluation
          Multidisciplinary Care Team
          Hospitals
          Australia
          Human
          Hospitals, Urban
          Exploratory Research
          Descriptive Research
          Qualitative Studies
          Semi-Structured Interview
          Thematic Analysis
          Male
          Female
          Leadership
          Clinical Competence Education
          Confidence
          Tertiary Health Care
          Audiorecording
          Interview Guides
          Academic Medical Centers
          Male
          Female
      ab: Background: Population ageing and rising levels of non-communicable diseases are increasing the number of people living with and dying from advanced serious illnesses globally. Many of these people are hospitalised more than once in their last year of life. While there is sound evidence on what patients and their families require for safe and high-quality hospital palliative care, enabling this remains a challenge. This study aimed to understand the clinician, team, and organisational-level barriers and enablers to integrating good palliative care into acute care. Methods: An exploratory-descriptive, qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and practical thematic analysis was conducted. Medical, nursing and allied health disciplines were recruited from three wards (cancer care, mixed general medicine/renal and mixed general medicine/respiratory) within a large Australian metropolitan hospital. Results: Eighty-eight interviews (nursing (n = 39); medicine (n = 24); allied health (n = 25)) were undertaken, with a median duration of 25.5 min (range 5 to 55 min). Most participants were female (n = 73, 83%), holding a Bachelor's degree (n = 86, 98%) and ranged from new graduates to participants with over 40 years of post-registration experience. The analysis generated six themes, reflecting the challenges of providing optimal palliative care within acute hospital wards: 1. Understanding when and how to provide palliative care 2. Negotiating shared or changing medical governance in a siloed system 3. Supporting clinicians with the knowledge, skills and confidence to meet palliative care needs 4. Prioritising palliative care amidst the acute care demands of the hospital 5. Optimising the clinical environment to enable private, restful and family-friendly spaces 6. Harnessing organisational support and multidisciplinary clinical leadership Conclusions: This study reveals complex, multi-level organisational barriers to integrating palliative care within the acute hospital which will need to be addressed for effective and sustained improvement. Harnessing organisational support and multidisciplinary clinical leadership is key to successful change. Improvements with a focus on developing clinician knowledge, skills, and confidence in palliative care need to pay attention to organisational siloes that constrain shared care, cultures of care that prioritise cure and efficiency, clinical uncertainty in the context of advanced serious illness and optimising the environment for quality palliative care.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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