Journal of palliative medicine
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Effectively engaging Canadians to help improve the quality and delivery of healthcare to dying Canadians is a priority for healthcare administrators and policy makers. This report shares our evaluation and learnings, applying a series of strategies to encourage policy formation. The Palliative Care Matters consensus development conference held in Ottawa on November 7-9, 2016 brought together members of the public, stakeholders, scientific experts, and a lay panel of interested Canadians to examine Canadian public opinions on palliative care and question experts on how palliative care could be enhanced. ⋯ The outcome of the conference was positive. It was attended and watched online by over 400 participants, received national print, radio and television coverage, and generated high exposure and engagement on social media. Survey results showed that the majority of steering committee, expert, and lay panel members felt a high level of engagement and agreed that the engagement process was successful. Evaluation will be conducted on an ongoing basis for at least another year.
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Nurses and nursing care providers provide the most direct care to patients at end of life. Yet, evidence indicates that many feel ill-prepared for the complexity of palliative care. ⋯ Resources exist to support palliative education for nurses and nursing care providers. Furthermore, the evidence suggests good outcomes from this education. However, there is no dedicated strategy for implementing those resources. Furthermore, there is little evidence of the critical role of knowledge translation in preparing nurses and nursing care providers for evidence-informed palliative practice.
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Education, Training, and Mentorship of Caregivers of Canadians Experiencing a Life-Limiting Illness.
Research suggests that caregiver preparedness is essential to minimizing the negative impacts of caregiving. Not being prepared is associated with fear, anxiety, stress, and feelings of insufficiency/uncertainty specific to the caregiver role. ⋯ The palliative navigator approach is a key role in the education, training, and mentorship of caregivers.
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This article details the methods used for a rapid literature review. ⋯ The current article contains the literature search strategies for both gray and academic literature, resource eligibility criteria for inclusion and exclusion, and tables and figures to outline the literature search process, and delimit the number of resource items captured at each step in the process.
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This article outlines the development and implementation of a consensus development conference (CDC). ⋯ This article also details the background information and guiding principles on which the Palliative Care Matters initiative was formed. A Canadian Reference Working Group was formed to develop the Palliative Care Matters guiding principles into six scientific questions. The scientific articles in this supplemental issue each present evidence and expert recommendations that speak to one of the Palliative Care Matters scientific questions.