Characteristics for a tool for timely identification of palliative needs in heart failure: The views of Dutch patients, their families and healthcare professionals.
Daisy Ja Janssen, Stephanie Mc Ament, Josiane Boyne and 4 others
PMID 32370680WHAT IT FOUND
People with advanced heart failure and their families wanted a palliative care needs tool that uses carefully chosen words, adapts to disease stage and setting, and asks about family caregivers' information needs.
Key findings
01Views came from 13 patients with heart failure, 7 family members, 3 bereaved family members, and 26 healthcare professionals recruited from one general practice, two academic hospitals, and two nursing homes.
02A tool should help healthcare professionals recognize palliative care needs, start conversations using carefully chosen words, and address family caregivers' information needs.
03The tool should adapt to disease stage, setting, and family involvement, and healthcare professionals disagreed about whether a checklist or observation would be usable.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in the Netherlands, so its tool characteristics may not transfer to other health systems. It used a purposive qualitative sample, so it was not designed to measure how common these views are. Only part of the implementation framework was examined. Male family members and male healthcare professionals were underrepresented. A research team member moderated discussions, which could have influenced responses. The study did not develop or test a tool, so it cannot show whether these characteristics improve care.
Declared interests
The supplied article text does not report funding sources or author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that a palliative care needs tool improves outcomes or implementation. The paper only reports what patients, families and healthcare professionals said they wanted in a future tool. No tool was tested.