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Miller EM, Porter JE, Barbagallo MS. The Effects of the Ward Environment and Language in Palliative Care: A Qualitative Exploratory Study of Victorian Nurses' Perspectives. HERD 2023; 16:146-158. [PMID: 37265375 PMCID: PMC10621022 DOI: 10.1177/19375867231177299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to explore regional nurses' perspectives of how bad news is delivered and the physical, natural, social, and symbolic environments where these conversations occur. BACKGROUND In regional hospitals within Victoria, Australia, palliative and end-of-life patients are cared for in acute wards that are often busy, noisy, and do not have a palliative psychosocial focus. On the other hand, Palliative Care Units (PCUs) have more home-like dedicated spaces, yet nearly all these facilities are in metropolitan areas. Diagnostic/prognostic (bad news) conversations about life-limiting illnesses often occur at the bedside in both environments. METHOD Nurses providing palliative or end-of-life care in regional or metropolitan Victorian hospital inpatient wards were invited to interview and recruited through social media and snowballing. Six semi-structured, audio-recorded online interviews were conducted between March and May 2022, and themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with six female, registered nurses, four of whom worked in regional Victorian hospitals and two in metropolitan PCUs as Nurse Unit Managers. Three central themes were developed: "conducting family meetings," "palliative care practice," and "the environment matters." CONCLUSIONS A therapeutic environment for palliative patients and their families consists of home-like ambience and aesthetics and a psychosocial environment created by staff who can provide holistic palliative care. Holistic palliative care requires mentoring and mirroring of expert practice to increase the expertise and capacity of the palliative care workforce in acute general hospital wards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M. Miller
- Collaborative Evaluation and Research Group (CERG), Federation University Australia, Churchill, Victoria, Australia
| | - Joanne E. Porter
- Collaborative Evaluation and Research Group (CERG), Federation University Australia, Churchill, Victoria, Australia
| | - Michael S. Barbagallo
- Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Churchill, Victoria, Australia
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Stubbs JM, Assareh H, Achat HM, Greenaway S, Muruganantham P. Verification of administrative data to measure palliative care at terminal hospital stays. HEALTH INF MANAG J 2023; 52:28-36. [PMID: 33325250 DOI: 10.1177/1833358320968572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Administrative data and clinician documentation have not been directly compared for reporting palliative care, despite concerns about under-reporting. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to verify the use of routinely collected administrative data for reporting in-hospital palliation and to examine factors associated with coded palliative care in hospital administrative data. METHOD Hospital administrative data and inpatient palliative care activity documented in medical records were compared for patients dying in hospital between 1 July 2017 and 31 December 2017. Coding of palliative care in administrative data is based on hospital care type coded as "palliative care" and/or assignment of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) palliative care diagnosis code Z51.5. Medical records were searched for specified keywords, which, read in context, indicated a palliative approach to care. The list of keywords (palliative, end of life, comfort care, cease observations, crisis medications, comfort medications, syringe driver, pain or symptom management, no cardiopulmonary resuscitation, advance medical plan/resuscitation plan, deteriorating, agitation, restless and delirium) was developed in consultation with seven local clinicians specialising in palliative care or geriatric medicine. RESULTS Of the 576 patients who died in hospital, 246 were coded as having received palliative care, either solely by the ICD-10-AM diagnosis code Z51.5 (42%) or in combination with a "palliative care" care type (58%). Just over one-third of dying patients had a palliative care specialist involved in their hospital care. Involvement of a palliative care specialist and a cancer diagnosis substantially increased the odds of a Z51.5 code (odds ratio = 11 and 4, respectively). The majority of patients with a "syringe driver" or identified as being at the "end of life" were assigned a Z51.5 code (73.5% and 70.5%, respectively), compared to 53.8% and 54.7%, respectively, for "palliative" or "comfort care." For each keyword indicating a palliative approach to care, the Z51.5 code was more likely to be assigned if the patient had specialist palliative care input or if they had cancer. CONCLUSION Our results suggest administrative data under-represented in-hospital palliative care, at least partly due to medical record documentation that failed to meet ICD-10-AM coding criteria. Collaboration between clinicians and coders can enhance the quality of records and, consequently, administrative data.
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Lin M, Deming R, Wolfe J, Cummings C. Infant mode of death in the neonatal intensive care unit: A systematic scoping review. J Perinatol 2022; 42:551-568. [PMID: 35058594 DOI: 10.1038/s41372-022-01319-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To characterize literature that describes infant mode of death and to clarify how limitation of life-sustaining treatment (LST) is defined and rationalized. STUDY DESIGN Eligible studies were peer-reviewed, English-language, and included number of infant deaths by mode out of all infant deaths in the NICU and/or delivery room. RESULT 58 included studies were primarily published in the last two decades from North American and European centers. There was variation in rates of infant mode of death by study, with some showing an increase in deaths following limitation of LST over time. Limitation of LST was defined by the intervention withheld/withdrawn, the relationship between the two practices, and prior frameworks. Themes for limiting LST included diagnoses, low predicted survival and/or quality of life, futility, and suffering. CONCLUSION Limitation of LST is a common infant mode of death, although rates, study definitions, and clinical rationale for this practice are variable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Lin
- Boston Children's Hospital, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Rachel Deming
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care and Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, USA
| | - Joanne Wolfe
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care and Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, USA
| | - Christy Cummings
- Boston Children's Hospital, Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
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Miner AS, Markowitz DM, Peterson BL, Weston BW. Examining the Examiners: How Medical Death Investigators Describe Suicidal, Homicidal, and Accidental Death. Health Commun 2022; 37:467-475. [PMID: 33950764 PMCID: PMC8939265 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1851862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This study describes differences in medicolegal death investigators' written descriptions for people who died by homicide, suicide, or accident. We evaluated 17 years of death descriptions from a midsized metropolitan midwestern county in the United States to assess how death investigators psychologically respond to different manners of death (N = 10,408 cases). Automated text analyses suggest investigators describe accidental deaths with more immediacy relative to homicides, while they also described suicidal deaths in less emotional terms than homicides as well. These data suggest medicolegal death investigators have different psychological reactions to circumstances and manners of death as indicated by their professional writing. Future research may surface context-specific psychological reactions to vicarious trauma that could inform the design or personalization of workplace-coping interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam S. Miner
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - David M. Markowitz
- School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | | | - Benjamin W. Weston
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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Perera N, Gold M, O'Driscoll L, Katz NT. Goals of Care Discussions Over the Course of a Patient's End of Life Admission: A Retrospective Study. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 2021; 39:652-658. [PMID: 34355578 DOI: 10.1177/10499091211035322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND As deaths in hospitals increase, clear discussions regarding resuscitation status and treatment limitations, referred to as goals of care (GOC), are vital. GOC may need revision as disease and patient priorities change over time. There is limited data about who is involved in GOC discussions, and how this changes as patients deteriorate in hospital. AIMS To review the timing and clinicians involved in GOC discussions for a cohort of patients who died in hospital. METHODS Retrospective observational audit of 80 consecutive end of life admissions between March 11th and April 9th, 2019. RESULTS Of 80 patients, 75 (93.6%) had GOC recorded during their admission, about half for ward-based non-burdensome symptom management or end-of-life care. GOC were revised in 68.0% of cases. Medical staff involved in initial versus final GOC discussions included home team junior doctor (54.7% versus 72.5%), home team consultant (37.3% versus 56.9%) and ICU doctor (16.0% versus 21.6%). For initial versus final GOC decisions, patients were involved in 34.7% versus 31.4%, and family in 53.3% versus 86.3%. Dying was documented for 92.0% of patients and this was documented to have been communicated to the family and patient in 98.6% and 19.5% of cases respectively. CONCLUSIONS As patients deteriorated, family and senior clinician involvement in GOC discussions increased, but patient involvement did not. Junior doctors were most heavily involved in discussions. We advocate for further GOC training and modeling to enhance junior doctors' confidence and competence in conducting and involving patients and families in GOC conversations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Perera
- Palliative Care Service, 5392Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Michelle Gold
- Palliative Care Service, 5392Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Lisa O'Driscoll
- Advance Care Planning and Improving End of Life Care, 5392Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Naomi T Katz
- Palliative Care Service, 5392Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Family caregivers of persons with dementia often feel unprepared for end-of-life and preparedness predicts caregiver outcomes in bereavement. Existing questionnaires assessing preparedness have limitations. A multi-dimensional questionnaire assessing family caregiver preparedness for the end-of-life of persons with dementia is needed to identify caregivers at risk for negative outcomes in bereavement and evaluate the quality of strategies within a palliative approach. AIM To develop a multi-dimensional questionnaire titled 'Caring Ahead' to assess feelings of preparedness for end-of-life in family caregivers of persons with dementia. DESIGN A mixed methods, sequential design employed semi-structured interviews, a Delphi-survey and pilot-testing of the questionnaire, June 2018 to July 2019. SETTING/POPULATION Participants included five current and 16 bereaved family caregivers of persons with symptoms advanced dementia from long-term care homes in Ontario, Canada; and 12 professional experts from clinical and academic settings in Canada, Europe, United States. RESULTS Interviews generated three core concepts and 114 indicators of preparedness sampling cognitive, affective and behavioural traits in four domains (i.e., medical, psychosocial, spiritual, practical). Indicators were translated and reduced to a pool of 73 potential questionnaire items. 30-items were selected to create the 'Caring Ahead' preparedness questionnaire through a Delphi-survey. Items were revised through a pilot-test with cognitive interviewing. CONCLUSIONS Family caregivers' feelings of preparedness for end-of-life need to be assessed and the quality of strategies within a palliative approach evaluated. Future psychometric testing of the Caring Ahead questionnaire will evaluate evidence for validity and reliability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela Durepos
- Faculty of Nursing, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
| | - Noori Akhtar-Danesh
- Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Jenny Ploeg
- Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- Aging, Community and Health Research Unit, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Tamara Sussman
- School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, QB, Canada
| | - Sharon Kaasalainen
- Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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Omori M, Jayasuriya J, Scherer S, Dow B, Vaughan M, Savvas S. The language of dying: Communication about end-of-life in residential aged care. Death Stud 2020; 46:684-694. [PMID: 32401636 DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1762263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This article explores implications of language used in communicating death and dying in residential aged care, which increasingly emphasizes a "family-centered" approach to end-of-life care. Based on focus groups with care professionals and families, our findings reveal a persistent clinical culture that resists frank discussions of dying, with many staff preferring to use euphemisms for dying. Our results emphasize the importance of end-of-life education for families, which families acknowledged was lacking. Cultural change in institutional control over disclosing dying is imperative in order to gain family trust and support in professional care and promote death literacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maho Omori
- School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jude Jayasuriya
- National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Sam Scherer
- Royal Freemasons Limited, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Briony Dow
- National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Marie Vaughan
- Royal Freemasons Limited, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Steven Savvas
- National Ageing Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Royal Freemasons Limited, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
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Kelemen A, Groninger H. When We Document End-of-Life Care, Words Still Matter. J Pain Symptom Manage 2019; 57:e14. [PMID: 30248385 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2018.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 09/12/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anne Kelemen
- Section of Palliative Care, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Hunter Groninger
- Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
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