Evaluation of an after hours telephone support service for rural palliative care patients and their families: A pilot study

Abstract

It appears from the evaluation responses of health professionals and nurses that knowing the service was there was a great security and reduced the sense of isolation predominant in the experience of rural families caring for a palliative care patient at home. Based on the positive evaluation, the area health service provided ongoing funding for the service and is exploring avenues to extend the program into other areas. The service now requires a re-evaluation at 18 months and will form the second phase of the study that is currently being organised.

Working and Caring for a Child with Chronic Illness: Challenges in Maintaining Employment

“…Metropolitan areas were chosen mainly because over two thirds of Australian children live there (Al-Yaman et al 2003, ABS 2003. In addition, studies have shown that the support needs of people living in rural and remote areas of Australia are different to those in metropolitan areas (Wilkes et al 2000(Wilkes et al , 2004(Wilkes et al , 2006. Purposive sampling was used to select parents for the study.…”

Supporting Patients and Their Caregivers After-Hours at the End of Life: The Role of Telephone Support

“…In Australia, those palliative care services with sufficient resources to provide 24 hour access tend to be part of larger metropolitan academic centres with greater capacity to extend the reach of palliative care (12,13) . The literature suggests that the level of after hour service delivery is quite variable and can range from telephone support (14,15) , home visits in response to a call (14,16) , and/or routine after-hours home visits (16,17) . .…”

“…These providers either manage the call themselves or refer the caller onto another service (15,29) . In observational studies, telephone support has been found to be a useful resource for families caring for terminally ill family members as it increases their access to support and is thought to reduce unnecessary admissions to hospital (4,30) . An…”

“…Unfortunately, access to this level of service is variable and particularly limited in rural and remote communities (4) . A combination of minimal data to convince administrators of the value of 24 hour coverage, limited access to scarce health care resources and workforce issues present numerous challenges for these smaller rural palliative care services (5) .…”

Growing old and getting sick: Maintaining a positive spirit at the end of life

“…Education for GPs works in improving confidence in palliative care knowledge and skills, 33,34 and after-hours telephone support, would provide some security and reduce their sense of isolation. 35 Palliative care nurses in rural and remote areas also identify the need for peer support and training. 36,37 …”