Understanding the challenges of palliative care in everyday clinical practice: an example from a COPD action research project

This study reports on an action research project aimed at developing respiratory nursing practice to address the palliative care needs of patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings suggest that interlevel dynamics at individual, team, interdepartmental and organisational levels are an important factor in the capacity of respiratory nurses to embed non‐specialist palliative care in their practice. At best, current efforts to embed palliative care in everyday practice may improve end‐of‐life care in the final hours/days/weeks of life. However, embedding palliative care in everyday practice requires a more fundamental shift in the organisation of care.

Source: Nursing Inquiry - December 1, 2014 Category: Nursing Authors: Geralyn Hynes, Fiona Kavanagh, Christine Hogan, Kitty Ryan, Linda Rogers, Jenny Brosnan, David Coghlan Tags: Feature Source Type: research