International journal of palliative nursing
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Dion Smyth's review of palliative nursing on the internet.
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In the UK 15.8% of people aged 85 years and over live in a care home or long-stay hospital setting. With the projection of an ageing population it is realistic to expect that the number of people both living and dying in all care homes will increase. This article describes the implementation of an end-of-life care programme to empower staff to meet their resident's end-of-life care needs. ⋯ Achieving change is any organisation let alone sustaining such change is not easy. Six factors enabled this to occur and these should be considered when implementing other such initiatives in residential care homes.
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Dion Smyth's review of palliative nursing on the internet.
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Observational Study
The importance of interdisciplinary communication in the process of anticipatory prescribing.
In the UK there has been a widespread introduction of 'anticipatory prescribing' in community based palliative care. This involves general practitioners (GPs) writing prescriptions in anticipation of them being needed and has been encouraged to try to minimise the risk of patients suffering uncontrolled symptoms and distress; a key reason why terminally ill patients are admitted to hospital in contradiction of most people's preferences. ⋯ Findings highlight how essential good interdisciplinary communication is to the process of anticipatory prescribing and end-of-life care. This study found that when interdisciplinary communication worked well the anticipatory prescribing process could be carried out smoothly, optimising patient care.
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Dion Smyth's review of palliative nursing on the internet.