A Rationale for the Choice of Research Topic
In the previous decades, palliative care and end-of-life nursing were not considered as important as other types of nursing, as providing appropriate conditions to patients who were not going to recover was seen as redundant. The focus was on improving nursing when providing patients with a more positive treatment prognosis.
Previously, the emphasis on fundamental human rights was not as prevalent as it is now, so this research topic was not as relevant. However, improving end-of-life treatment has become more relevant in the last decades because more attention is paid to providing decent conditions for palliative patients. This topic is relevant to nursing due to the current lack of understanding of this type of care and the necessity of helping patients’ relatives during loss.
Because end-of-life care was neglected in the past, nurses’ education in this sphere was also scarce. This type of care requires appropriate prior training, as taking care of terminal patients differs from taking care of regular patients. The same applies to communication with the patient’s relatives. A nurse must properly understand how a palliative patient and their relatives must be approached. When it comes to terminal patients, it is essential to know how to help relatives after the patient dies.
Article Findings for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice
The Rise of Aging Population
When it comes to improving nurses’ education, the following findings from recent research papers can be helpful to improve evidence-based clinical practice. Nurses’ education on palliative care needs to be paid more attention to because it is estimated that by 2030, more than 9 million Americans will be over 85 (O’Shea & Mager, 2019). The aging population suggests that more patients will need end-of-life care. Abelson and Willman (2020) conclude that nursing students do not feel prepared to provide proper end-of-life care and feel that the training they receive is inadequate. Isaacson and Minton (2018) state that improving nurses’ communication strategies with patients and their relatives is essential. Gonella et al. (2020) emphasize improving nurses’ communication, particularly in nursing homes.
Change of Attitude Toward Patient Care
Another essential aspect that needs to be emphasized is the shift in nurses’ outlook on end-of-life and palliative care. Harrington et al. (2019) argue that nurses need to be more emotionally engaged to provide high-quality care; thus, the emotional engagement component needs to be included in nurses’ preparation. Another thing that can be included is nurses’ training in law knowledge (Wilmott et al., 2020).
Intensive Care Skills
Another aspect that can be impacted is nurses’ work in intensive care units. It is imperative to involve nurses in decision-making and improve their knowledge and skills in intensive care (Griffiths, 2019). Stimulation can be applied to improve these skills, and it has proven effective in nurses’ education (Smith et al., 2018).
Quality Care in Nursing Homes
Lastly, it was demonstrated that end-of-life care quality in nursing homes needs improvement, as two pieces of research have demonstrated that this quality is not optimal (Pivodic et al., 2018; Allers et al., 2019). All in all, the selected articles have shown that both nursing education and end-of-life care need substantial changes.
Reference List
Abelsson, A. and Willman, A. (2020) ‘Caring for patients in the end-of-life from the perspective of undergraduate nursing students’, Nursing Forum, pp. 1-6.
Allers, K., Hoffmann, F., Schnakenberg, R. (2019) ‘Hospitalizations of nursing home residents at the end of life: A systematic review’, Palliative Medicine, 33(10), pp. 1282-1298.
Gonella, S., Basso, I., Clari, M., Dimonte, V. and Di Giulio, P. (2020) ‘A qualitative study of nurses’ perspective about the impact of end-of-life communication on the goal of end-of-life care in nursing home’, Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 35(2), pp. 502-511.
Griffiths, I. (2019) ‘What are the challenges for nurses when providing end-of-life care in intensive care units?’, British Journal of Nursing, 28(16).
Harrington, K. J., Affronti, M. L., Schneider, S. M., Razzak, A. R. and Smith, T. J. (2019) ‘Improving attitudes and perceptions about end-of-life nursing on a hospital-based palliative care unit’, Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, 21(4), pp. 272-279.
Isaacson, M. J. and Minton, M. E. (2018) ‘End-of-life communication’, Advances in Nursing Science, 41(1), pp. 2-17.
O’Shea, E. R., Mager, D. (2019) ‘End-of-life nursing education: Enhancing nurse knowledge and attitudes’, Applied Nursing Research, 50.
Pivodic, L., Smets, T., Van den Noorgate, N., Bregjie, D. O. P., Engels, Y., Szczerbinska, K., Finne-Soveri, H., Froggatt, K., Gambassi, G., Deliens, L. and Van den Block, L. (2018) ‘Quality of dying and quality of end-of-life care of nursing home residents in six countries: An epidemiological study’, Palliative Medicine, 32(10), pp. 1584-1595.
Smith, M. B., Macieira, T. G. R., Bumbach, M. D., Garbutt, S. J., Citty, S. W., Stephen, A., Ansell, M., Glover, T. and Keenan, G. (2018) ‘The use of simulation to teach nursing students and clinicians palliative care and end-of-life communication: A systematic review’, American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, 35(8), pp. 1140-1154.
Willmott, L., White, B. and Piper, D. (2020) ‘Nurses’ knowledge of law at the end of life and implications for practice: A qualitative study’, European Association for Palliative Care, 34(4).
