Journal of social work in end-of-life & palliative care
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2008
A study of the relationship between self-care, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout among hospice professionals.
Hospice care professionals (HCPs) experience a large number of stressors in their work settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-care, compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among HCPs. ⋯ Results indicated a relationship between self-care strategies and lower levels of burnout and compassion fatigue, and higher levels of compassion satisfaction. Several suggestions are offered for continued research and practice in the hospice care field.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2008
Applying the National Quality Forum Preferred Practices for Palliative and Hospice Care: a social work perspective.
The National Consensus Project's (NCP) Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, published in 2004, defined eight domains of care essential to palliative care clinical practice. The National Quality Forum's (NQF) 2006 document, A National Framework and Preferred Practices for Palliative and Hospice Care Quality: A Consensus Report, based on the NCP's Guidelines, identified 38 evidence-based preferred practices for palliative care. ⋯ Domain 4 incorporates many pertinent aspects of hospice and palliative care related to communication and care planning. In particular, emphasized is the inclusion of the patient and family in discussions about ongoing care and creation of care plans that respect the social community of patient and family.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2008
Social workers' and nurses' attitudes toward the health care proxy.
Since health care professionals play a critical role in discussing advance directives with patients, their own attitudes toward these directives are important. This study examined the factors associated with health care professionals' attitudes toward the health care proxy, one form of an advance directive. ⋯ Health care professionals who had prior training in end-of-life planning had more positive attitudes toward the health care proxy than those who did not have training. Implications for education of health care professionals are addressed.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2008
Communication skills training in a hospice volunteer training program.
As hospice services have expanded, patient care volunteers have become increasingly important in providing support to the dying and their families. Fundamental to the success of hospice volunteers is the quality of interaction among the volunteer, the dying patient, and his or her family. ⋯ The implications for this lack of communication training are noted and methods of increasing active empathetic listening skills are proposed. The article concludes with a discussion of potential theoretical and pragmatic research contributions that the field of communication studies can make to hospice training programs.