Palliative care nurse champions’ views on their role and impact: a qualitative interview study among hospital and home care nurses

Abstract

Background One of the strategies to promote the quality of palliative care in non-specialised settings is the appointment of palliative care nurse champions. It is unclear what the most effective model to implement the concept of nurse champions is and little is known about palliative care nurse champions’ own views on their role and responsibilities. This paper aims to describe views of palliative care nurse champions in hospitals and home care on their role, responsibilities and added value. Methods In 2018, a qualitative interview study was conducted with 16 palliative care nurse champions in two hospitals and four home care organisations in the southwest of the Netherlands. The framework approach was used to analyse the data. Results Most palliative care nurse champions described their role by explaining concrete tasks or activities. Most nurse champions perceive their main task as disseminating information about palliative care to colleagues. A few nurses mentioned activities aimed at raising awareness of palliative care among colleagues. Most nurses were to a limited extent involved in collaboration with the palliative care expert team. Hospital nurse champions suggested that more support from the palliative care expert team would be helpful. Most nurse champions feel little responsibility for organisational tasks and inter-organisational collaboration. Especially hospital nurses found it difficult to describe their role. Conclusion The role of palliative care nurse champions in hospital and home care varies a lot and nurses have diverging views on palliative care in these settings. Comprehensively fulfilling the role of palliative care nurse champion is a challenge. Careful selection, training, support and task descriptions for nurse champions are needed to make the concept of nurse champions work in palliative care.

Palliative care in home health care services and hospitals – the role of the resource nurse, a qualitative study

“…In contrast, the results indicated that heavy workload caused the resource nurse role to be underutilized. This is consistent with Engel et al [ 4 ], who reported that trained nurse champions in palliative care are able and willing to contribute to a greater extent in competence activities.…”

“…The term resource nurse or the parallel term link nurse or nurse champion denotes a healthcare role that is established internationally and is used in a wide area of clinical settings such as infection prevention and control [ 1 ], wound and skin care [ 2 ], diabetes care [ 3 ] and palliative care [ 4 , 5 ]. However, neither the resource nurses’ role nor the similar terms are distinctively defined [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Palliative care is mainly offered in settings where palliative care is not the main activity [ 4 ]. The major barrier to best evidence-based palliative care is limited training in palliative care along with a lack of awareness concerning what palliative care is and it’s importance for patients [ 11 , 16 ].…”

Ongoing Value and Practice Improvement Outcomes from Pediatric Palliative Care Education: The Quality of Care Collaborative Australia

“…The location of respondents was classified according to the Australian Statistical Geographical Classification -Remoteness Area 2016. 7 The 152 respondents came from Queensland (n=79), Western Australia (19), South Australia (16), Victoria (15) and 22 from other states visited by QuoCCA educators (8 in Tasmania, 6 in Australian Capital Territory, 6 in New South Wales and 2 in Northern Territory).…”

“…14 They work in close collaboration with the tertiary children's hospital and train and mentor staff in their hospital and smaller regional hospitals, where a champion model may be useful. 15,16 Through the progressive QuoCCA projects since 2015, the aim has been to evaluate the effectiveness of education by assessing it at all levels using Kirkpatrick's Model 17 based on a project logic. 2,18 Outputs were measured from QuoCCA education reports around Australia.…”