Palliative care for respiratory disease: An education model of care

Abstract

That palliative care improves quality of life for seriously ill patients and their families is well known – but how can healthcare providers ensure that the palliative needs of all patients are being assessed and addressed? A growing number of curricula in core palliative care practices have been developed to ensure that clinicians from all specialties and disciplines have the necessary training to manage pain and symptoms and discuss care goals with patients and families. Through broad-based training in core palliative care skills, combined with referral to specialty palliative care for high-need patients, providers can improve quality of life for their patients with respiratory disease.

Palliative care training addressed to hospital healthcare professionals by palliative care specialists: a mixed-method evaluation

“…Our results are in agreement with other studies that were also applied in non-oncological settings, for example, those obtained by Hepgul et al [7], which emphasized that the collaboration between neurologists and palliative care professionals has a positive overall impact on the management of patients with progressive neurological disorders. Similar results were obtained by Bowman and Meier [40] in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Riegel and Kimmel [41] in end-stage heart disease.…”

Pulmonary referrals to specialist palliative medicine: a survey

“…This is similar to the finding that some respirologists did not refer patients with COPD to SPC because they felt capable of providing primary palliative care 19. A lack of expertise in primary palliative care has been cited as a barrier to the receipt of palliative care among patients with chronic respiratory disease29 and there has been a call for enhanced training in palliative care among respirologists 30–32. Despite this, there is presently no required training in palliative care among respirologists, either at the residency or fellowship level, in Canada.…”

Clinician Perspectives on How to Hold Earlier Discussions About Palliative and End-of-Life Care With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

“…21 However, until palliative care skills are embedded as standard in undergraduate and graduate training curricula, midcareer palliative care education remains a critically important undertaking. 20 Previous work suggests that a considerable proportion of patients would like to discuss palliative care with their practice nurses. 13 However, service rationing and clinicianand patient-specific barriers, such as unpredictable disease trajectories and short appointments, 18 were highlighted as key causes for late discussions.…”

“…We found that a lack of COPD knowledge as well as palliative care training reduced practice nurses' confidence and ability in starting discussions. To increase clinicians' knowledge about palliative care, several training programs have been developed, ranging from one-time learning activities to yearlong programs 20 . As an example, the US-based Center to Advance Palliative Care developed an online curriculum for primary palliative care education and a learning pathway for respiratory clinicians who provide care to COPD patients 21 .…”