Patients', relatives' and nurses' experiences of palliative care on an advanced care ward in a nursing home setting in Norway.
Kjersti Sunde Maehre, Elisabeth Bergdahl, Jessica Hemberg
PMID 36451339WHAT IT FOUND
Patients, relatives and nurses in a Norwegian nursing home described end-of-life care as insecure and under-resourced.
They wanted more time, competence, monitoring and family involvement.
Key findings
01Patients, relatives and nurses linked insecurity to limited staffing and lack of palliative care competence.
02Several patients and relatives said economic factors seemed to matter more than individual care.
03Patients needing mechanical ventilation were sometimes left to manage alone, and relatives organized shift-like support.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The findings come from interviews with 19 participants in the studied nursing home setting, so they describe these participants' experiences rather than all nursing homes. The sample was small and included three women and two men patients, six relatives and eight nurses. Some patients who had agreed to take part became too ill to interview. The data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new national plan has been introduced since then, so current practice may differ. No intervention was tested, so the paper cannot show whether more staffing, training or monitoring improves care.
Declared interests
The authors declare no potential conflict of interest, and the research received no specific grant from any funding agency.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that nursing home palliative care is unsafe everywhere. It reports experiences from the studied setting and 19 participants, and it does not test whether more staff, training or monitoring improves care.