scholarly journals Identifying Healthcare Professional Roles in Developing Palliative Care: A Mixed Method

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wadi B. Alonazi

Background: Creating a holistic approach in healthcare services is the ultimate aim for the integrated healthcare system. Theoretically, healthcare policy makers constantly expected optimal operations within the hospitals through capitalizing the maximum potential of healthcare expertise, professionals, practitioners, and supporting staff. The objective of this study is to explore the role of healthcare individuals to sustain effective palliative care programs in a safe environment with high-quality of care.Methods: This study employed a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) to accomplish the set objective. For this purpose, a balanced sampling technique was adopted and 28 healthcare professionals were selected in two stages (last week of January and the 1st week of February, 2020). These respondents were playing significant role in palliative care policy making process. In the first stage, respondents were classified into three parallel groups to document the major factors affecting palliative care reforms. To minimize the chance of individual biases, each group was supervised by an independent healthcare professional who was not involved in the study. Then, in the second stage, respondents were divided into two clusters for further abstraction of themes to analysis the data. In this phase, each group was comprised on 14 individuals. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed (subjectively and objectively) by using NVivo 12 to extract the final themes. These themes were described and analyzed quantitatively for further catchphrases abstraction to identify significant components.Findings: The initial results incorporated 36 key factors in building effective and sustained palliative healthcare centers. The domains were feasible and practical as they homogeneously patterned within cultural change. These were quality of care, effective management, institute of medicine criteria, and health governance. The Spearman correlation matrix showed significant relationships between the four critical components (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05).Conclusions: This study explored and identified the significant factors that healthcare professional might consider to make their role more productive and effective in palliative care centers. The key findings also indicated the need of comprehensive periodic assessment especially from the perspective of managerial implications and quality of care.

2020 ◽  
pp. bmjspcare-2020-00239
Author(s):  
Sandra Kurkowski ◽  
Johannes Radon ◽  
Annika R Vogt ◽  
Martin Weber ◽  
Stephanie Stiel ◽  
...  

BackgroundPalliative care strives to improve quality of life for patients with incurable diseases. This approach includes adequate support of the patients’ loved ones. Consequently, loved ones have personal experiences of providing end-of-life care for their next. This is a resource for information and may help to investigate the loved ones’ perspectives on need for improvements.AimTo identify further quality aspects considered important by loved ones to improve the quality of care at the end of life as an addition to quantitative results from the Care of the Dying Evaluation for the German-speaking area (CODE-GER) questionnaire.DesignWithin the validation study of the questionnaire ‘Care of the Dying Evaluation’ (CODETM) GER, loved ones were asked to comment (free text) in parallel on each item of the CODE-GER. These free-text notes were analysed with the qualitative content analysis method by Philipp Mayring.Setting/participantsLoved ones of patients (n=237), who had died an expected death in two university hospitals (palliative and non-palliative care units) during the period from April 2016 to March 2017.Results993 relevant paragraphs were extracted out of 1261 free-text notes. For loved ones, important aspects of quality of care are information/communication, respect of the patient’s and/or loved one’s will, involvement in decision-making at the end of life (patient’s volition) and having the possibility to say goodbye.ConclusionsIt is important for loved ones to be taken seriously in their sorrows, to be informed, that the caregivers respect the patients’ will and to be emotionally supported.Trial registration numberThis study was registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00013916).


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erna Julianti ◽  
Fajar Tri Waluyanti ◽  
Allenidekania Allenidekania

The Parents' satisfaction of premature babies is very important as one of the basic steps in determining the quality of nursing service. This study aims to identify parental satisfaction in the perinatology. Consecutive sampling technique was conducted to select 59 parents of premature babies as research respondents. Instrument in this study uses EMPATHIC N. The data was analyzed with Pearson test. The results showed that the average of premature babies’ care score was 161.93 and the average of parents’ satisfaction score was 280.07. Nursing care should be evaluated to improve the performance of nurses and the quality of care of premature babies and parents’ satisfaction.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alze Pereira dos Santos Tavares ◽  
Carolina Paparelli ◽  
Carolina Sassaki Kishimoto ◽  
Silvia Avo Cortizo ◽  
Karen Ebina ◽  
...  

Background: Gathering clinical evidence data on patients’ palliative care needs is paramount to identify changes in outcomes over time and maintaining on-going quality improvement. Implementation of patient-centred outcome measures has been widely recommended. The routine use of these instruments in daily practice is challenging and not widespread. Aim: To implement a patient-centred outcome measure in daily practice and fulfil one quality indicator: improve pain during the 72 h after admission, in at least 75% of patients. Design: An observational prospective study. The Palliative care Outcome Scale was used at admission (T0), third day (T1) and weekly. Setting/participants: Hospital palliative care unit with 17 individual rooms. All patients admitted to the unit were included in the study. Results: Preliminary results ( N = 84) revealed inconsistent and missing data (14%). Symptoms were sub-optimally controlled by T1. Processes changed, and only a team member could apply Palliative care Outcome Scale. Doctors were encouraged to grasp the meaning of Palliative care Outcome Scale results for each patient. The post-pilot included 317 patients. No missing data occurred. There was an improvement in most items between T0 and T1: ‘pain’ and ‘other symptoms’ presented statistical significant differences ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: Implementing a patient-centred outcome measure in a hospital palliative care service is feasible and improves quality of care. Controlling high pain at T0 improved (>80%) by T1. Results became more consistent and symptom control was improved overall. Patients are evaluated based on holistic domains by an interdisciplinary team and we have added a much needed measure to help guide improvement of the quality of care provided.


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Wentlandt ◽  
Dori Seccareccia ◽  
Nanor Kevork ◽  
Kevin Workentin ◽  
Susan Blacker ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Alberto Coustasse ◽  
Morgan Ruley ◽  
Tonnie C. Mike ◽  
Briana M. Washington ◽  
Anna Robinson

Rural areas have experienced a higher than average shortage of healthcare professionals. Numerous challenges have limited access to mental health services. Some of these barriers have included transportation, number of providers, poverty, and lack of insurance. Recently, the utilization of telepsychiatry has increased in rural areas. The purpose of this review was to identify and coalesce the benefits of telepsychiatry for adults living in rural communities in the United States to determine if telepsychiatry has improved access and quality of care. The methodology for this study was a literature review that followed a systematic approach. References and sources were written in English and were taken from studies in the United States between 2004 and 2018 to keep this review current. Fifty-nine references were selected from five databases. It was found that several studies supported that telepsychiatry has improved access and quality of care available in rural environments. At the same time, telepsychiatry in mental healthcare has not been utilized as it should in rural adult populations due to lack of access, an overall shortage of providers, and poor distribution of psychiatrists. There are numerous benefits to implementing telepsychiatry in rural areas. While there are still barriers that prevent widespread utilization, telepsychiatry can improve mental health outcomes by linking rural patients to high-quality mental healthcare services that follow evidence-based care and best practices. Telepsychiatry utilization in rural areas in the United States has demonstrated to have a significant ability to transform mental health care delivery and clinician productivity. As technology continues to advance access, telepsychiatry will also advance, making access more readily available.


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Brad Beauvais ◽  
Glen Gilson ◽  
Steve Schwab ◽  
Brittany Jaccaud ◽  
Taylor Pearce ◽  
...  

In most consumer markets, higher prices generally imply increased quality. For example, in the automobile, restaurant, hospitality, and airline industries, higher pricing generally conveys a signal of complexity and superiority of a service or product. However, in the healthcare industry, there is room to challenge the price-quality connection as both health prices and health quality can be difficult to interpret. In the best of circumstances, health care costs, prices, and quality can often be difficult to isolate and measure. Recent efforts by the Trump Administration and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have required the pricing of hospital services to be more transparent. Specifically, hospital chargemaster (retail) prices must now be available to the public. However, many continue to question if the pricing of health care services reflects the quality of service delivery. This research focuses on investigating the prices hospitals charge for their services in relation to the costs incurred and the association with the quality of care provided. By analyzing data from a nationwide sample of U.S. hospitals, this study considers the relationship between hospital pricing (as measured by the charge-to-cost ratio) and hospital quality performance as measured by the Value Based Purchasing Total Performance Score (TPS) and its associated sub-domains. Results of the study indicate that hospital prices, as measured by our primary independent variable of interest, the charge-to-cost ratio, are significantly and negatively associated with Total Performance Score, Patient Experience, and the Efficiency and Cost Reduction domains. A marginal statistically significant positive association is shown in the Clinical Care domain. The findings indicate that unlike most other industries, in medicine, higher pricing compared to cost does not necessarily associate with higher quality and, in fact, might indicate the opposite. The results of this study suggest that purchasers of healthcare, at all levels, have justification in challenging the pricing of healthcare services considering the quality scores available in the public domain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 205031212094512
Author(s):  
MaryJoy Umoke ◽  
Prince Christian Ifeanachor Umoke ◽  
Ignatius O Nwimo ◽  
Chioma Adaora Nwalieji ◽  
Rosemary N Onwe ◽  
...  

Background: Patient satisfaction is an essential parameter in the assessment of quality of care and healthcare facility performance. Objective: To investigate patients’ satisfaction with quality of care in general hospitals in Ebonyi State, South East, Nigeria, using the SERVQUAL. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed on a sample of 400 patients using a 27-item structured open-ended patients’ satisfaction questionnaire with a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Patients included in the study were those who must have come for an outpatient clinic within the period, be 18 years and above, and those who gave consent to participate. Of 400 questionnaires administered, 396 (99%) were retrieved. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies, percentages, mean score ( x), and standard deviation, were employed for interpretation. Results: Out of 396 patients, 156 (39.4%) were male and 240 (60.6%) were females. Most patients were 18–39 years (233 (58.8%)), had secondary education (139 (35.1%)), married (221 (55.8%)), earned <18,000 (170(42.9%)), and were traders (136 (34.3%)). Patients were satisfied with tangibility (2.57 ± 0.99) and reliability (2.84 ± 0.95) and very satisfied with responsiveness (3.06 ± 0.63), assurance (3.07 ± 0.63), and empathy (3.12 ± 0.57). Conclusions: Patients were satisfied with the quality of care. However, satisfaction was highest with empathy and lowest with tangibility. Thus, managers should focus their quality improvement efforts on areas of the neat appearance of health workers, waiting facilities for attendants and patients, and hygienic conditions at the hospital. Also, biannual assessment of patients’ satisfaction should be done and the results generated use judiciously to provide a platform for health sector reform.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 551-558
Author(s):  
Huda Abu-Saad Huijer ◽  
Rachele Bejjani ◽  
Souha Fares

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 2614-2614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne S. Mandelblatt ◽  
Patricia A. Ganz ◽  
Katherine L. Kahn

ABSTRACT: Cancer is an important disease, and health care services have the potential to improve the quality and quantity of life for cancer patients. The delivery of these services also has recently been well codified. Given this framework, cancer care presents a unique opportunity for clinicians to develop and test outcome measures across diverse practice settings. Recently, the Institute of Medicine released a report reviewing the quality of cancer care in the United States and called for further development and monitoring of quality indicators. Thus, as we move into the 21st century, professional and regulatory agencies will be seeking to expand process measures and develop and validate outcomes-oriented measures for cancer and other diseases. For such measures to be clinically relevant and feasible, it is key that the oncology community take an active leadership role in this process. To set the stage for such activities, this article first reviews broad methodologic concerns involved in selecting measures of the quality of care, using breast cancer to exemplify key issues. We then use the case of breast cancer to review the different phases of cancer care and provide examples of phase-specific measures that, after careful operationalization, testing, and validation, could be used as the basis of an agenda for measuring the quality of breast cancer care in oncology practice. The diffusion of process and outcome measures into practice; the practicality, reliability, and validity of these measures; and the impact that these indicators have on practice patterns and the health of populations will be key to evaluating the success of such quality-of-care paradigms. Ultimately, improved quality of care should translate into morbidity and mortality reductions.


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