A Qualitative Study of the Role of Palliative Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions and Experiences Among Critical Care Clinicians, Hospital Leaders, and Spiritual Care Providers

Background Palliative care offers a unique skill set in response to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with expertise in advance care planning, symptom management, family communication, end-of-life care, and bereavement. However, few studies have explored palliative care’s role during the pandemic and changes in perceptions and utilization of the specialty among health and spiritual care providers and hospital leaders. Objective To explore the utilization, perceptions, and understanding of palliative care among critical care clinicians, hospital leaders, and spiritual care providers during the pandemic. Design We conducted a qualitative study employing semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Setting/participants We conducted the study at a tertiary academic medical center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Between August and October 2020, we interviewed 25 participants from 3 informant groups: (1) critical care physicians, (2) hospital leaders, and (3) spiritual care providers. Results Respondents recognized that palliative care’s role increased in importance during the pandemic. Palliative care served as a bridge between providers, patients, and families; supported provider well-being; and contributed to hospital efficiency. The pandemic reinforced participants’ positive perceptions of palliative care, increased their understanding of the scope of the specialty’s practice, and inspired physicians to engage more with palliative care. Respondents indicated the need for more palliative care providers and advocated for their role in bereavement support and future pandemic response. Conclusion Findings highlight evolving and increased utilization of palliative care during the pandemic, suggesting a need for greater investment in palliative care programs and for palliative care involvement in public health emergency preparedness and response.

Changes in pediatric hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national qualitative study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated rapid changes in healthcare delivery in the United States, including changes in the care of hospitalized children. The objectives of this study were to identify major changes in healthcare delivery for hospitalized children during the COVID-19 pandemic, identify lessons learned from these changes, and compare and contrast the experiences of children’s and community hospitals. Methods We purposefully sampled participants from both community and children’s hospitals serving pediatric patients in the six U.S. states with the highest COVID-19 hospitalization rates at the onset of the pandemic. We recruited 2–3 participants from each hospital (mix of administrators, front-line physicians, nurses, and parents/caregivers) for semi-structured interviews. We analyzed interview data using constant comparative methods to identify major themes. Results We interviewed 30 participants from 12 hospitals. Participants described how leaders rapidly developed new hospital policies (e.g., directing use of personal protective equipment) and how this was facilitated by reviewing internal and external data frequently and engaging all relevant stakeholders. Hospital leaders optimized communication through regular, transparent, multi-modal, and bi-directional communication. Clinicians increased use of videoconference and telehealth to facilitate physical distancing, but these technologies may have disadvantaged non-English speakers. Due to declining volumes of hospitalized children and surges of adult patients, clinicians newly provided care for hospitalized adults. This was facilitated by developing care teams supported by adult hospitalists, multidisciplinary support via videoconference, and educational resources. Participants described how the pandemic negatively impacted clinicians’ mental health, and they stressed the importance of mental health resources and wellness activities/spaces. Conclusions We identified several major changes in inpatient pediatric care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the adoption of new hospital policies, video communication, staffing models, education strategies, and staff mental health supports. We outline important lessons learned, including strategies for successfully developing new policies, effectively communicating with staff, and supporting clinicians’ expanding scope of practice. Potentially important focus areas in pandemic recovery include assessing and supporting clinicians’ mental health and well-being, re-evaluating trainees’ skills/competencies, and adapting educational strategies as needed. These findings can help guide hospital leaders in supporting pandemic recovery and addressing future crises.

Role of hospital leadership in combating the COVID-19 pandemic

Hospitals all around the world play an essential role in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During an epidemic event, hospital leaders frequently face new challenges requiring them to perform unaccustomed tasks, which might be well beyond the scope of their previous practice and experience. While no absolute set of characteristics is necessary in all leadership situations, certain traits, skills and competencies tend to be more critical than others in crisis management times. We will discuss some of the most important ones in this manuscript. To strengthen those managerial competencies needed to face outbreaks, healthcare leaders should be better supported by competency-based training courses as it is more and more clear that traditional training courses are not as effective as they were supposed to be. It seems we should look at the COVID-19 pandemic as a learning opportunity to re-frame what we expect from hospital leaders and to re-think the way we train, assess and evaluate them.

Perspectives of hospital leaders and staff on patient education for the prevention of healthcare-associated infections

Objective: Device-related healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), are largely preventable. However, there is little evidence of standardized approaches to educate patients about how they can help prevent these infections. We examined the perspectives of hospital leaders and staff about patient education for CAUTI and CLABSI prevention to understand the challenges to patient education and the opportunities for improvement. Methods: In total, 471 interviews were conducted with key informants across 18 hospitals. Interviews were analyzed deductively and inductively to identify themes around the topic of patient education for infection prevention. Results: Participants identified patient education topics specific to CAUTI and CLABSI prevention, including the risks of indwelling urinary catheters and central lines, the necessity of hand hygiene, the importance of maintenance care, and the support to speak up. Challenges, such as lack of standardized education, and opportunities, such as involvement of patient and family advisory groups, were also identified regarding patient education for CAUTI and CLABSI prevention. Conclusions: Hospital leaders and staff identified patient education topics, and ways to deliver this information, that were important in the prevention of CAUTIs and CLABSIs. By identifying both challenges and opportunities related to patient education, our results provide guidance on how patient education for infection prevention can be further improved. Future work should evaluate the implementation of standardized approaches to patient education to better understand the potential impact of these strategies on the reduction of HAIs.

PERTANGGUNGJAWABAN HUKUM DOKTER PROGRAM INTERNSIP DALAM PELAYANAN KESEHATAN TERHADAP PASIEN

. Suppose there is a problem related to the loss incurred to the patient when the doctor of the Internship program does not meet the established educational standards. In that case, health services will be exposed to a greater risk of civil liability if they ignore internal arrangements related to internal physicians. The risk of joint civil litigation will be very burdensome for interns and hospitals if hospital leaders issue wrong clinical assignments. Hospitals need to be aware that material and substance cannot be compared between hospitals and hospitals. Each hospital should ask their medical committee to arrange bylaws related to implementing the profession of interns in their respective hospitals. The approach used in this study is the method of the Legislative Approach (Statue Uproach), Conceptual Approach, and Sociological Approaches. By law anyone who causes or incurs a loss to another person is required to account for any such loss. Likewise, doctors, as health workers who have provided health services (medical measures) to patients, if the doctor incurs losses with these services, are obliged to provide accountability. The responsibility of doctors who commit malpractice can be punched in 3 (three) aspects: civil, criminal, and administrative matters.

Perspectives of Australian hospital leaders on the provision of safe care: implications for safety I and safety II

PurposeThere is evidence that patient safety has not improved commensurate with the global attention and resources dedicated to achieving it. The authors explored the perspectives of hospital leaders on the challenges of leading safe care.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports the findings of a three-year longitudinal study of eight Australian hospitals. A representative sample of hospital leaders, comprising board members, senior and middle managers and clinical leaders, participated in focus groups twice a year from 2015 to 2017.FindingsAlthough the participating hospitals had safety I systems, the leaders consistently reported that they relied predominantly on their competent well-meaning staff to ensure patient safety, more of a safety II perspective. This trust was based on perceptions of the patient safety actions of staff, rather than actual knowledge about staff abilities or behaviours. The findings of this study suggest this hegemonic relational trust was a defence mechanism for leaders in complex adaptive systems (CASs) unable to influence care delivery at the front line and explores potential contributing factors to these perceptions.Practical implicationsIn CASs, leaders have limited control over the bedside care processes and so have little alternative but to trust in “good staff providing good care” as a strategy for safe care. However, trust, coupled with a predominantly safety 1 approach is not achieving harm reduction. The findings of the study suggest that the beliefs the leaders held about the role their staff play in assuring safe care contribute to the lack of progress in patient safety. The authors recommend three evidence-based leadership activities to transition to the proactive safety II approach to pursuing safe care.Originality/valueThis is the first longitudinal study to provide the perspectives of leaders on the provision of quality and safety in their hospitals. A large sample of board members, managers and clinical leaders provides extensive data on their perspectives on quality and safety.

Nurse Work Stress in Inpatient Room of Pasar Minggu Regional General Hospital, South Jakarta

<p>A nurse is a professional medical personnel at the forefront of hospital services. The number of nurses is the highest and they continuously work on shifts for up to 24 hours. For the past two years, Pasar Minggu Regional General Hospital, South Jakarta has had an increasing number of patients along with the regulation of Social Security Organizing Agency (BPJS), which every hospital has to apply, this condition burdens the nurses and causes work stress. This research aims to investigate the experiences of the nurses regarding work stress in the inpatient rooms of the General Hospital Region, South Jakarta. The research method is qualitative phenomenology, with 10 nurse participants taken using purposive sampling. The researchers carried out the retrieval of data by means of structured and in-depth interviews, observations and notes. The analysis data utilized the Colaizzi method, which resulted in four main themes, i.e., understanding the state of work stress, the response of work stress, coping mechanisms and the expected support from the hospital leaders. The hospital leaders are expected to be able to make policies in managing nurse work design, which is in accordance with the competencies, so that the nurses do not experience work stress and will eventually benefit the hospital and patients.</p>

Hospital leadership perspectives on the value of the 3 Wishes Project: a qualitative study

BackgroundHealthcare organisations are increasingly interested in improving the work life of their employees. By encouraging individualised acts of compassion for dying patients and their families, the 3 Wishes Project (3WP) has been shown to ease grief for both families and clinicians.PurposeThe objective of this study was to explore the perspectives of hospital leaders on the value of the 3WP to the hospital and how decisions are made about which programmes to support.MethodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with 20 hospital leaders in four North American institutions. Transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsInterviews with 12 clinical managers and 8 senior administrators identified the institutional value of the 3WP as improving patient and family experiences, enhancing staff morale, translating institutional mission and values into front-line practice, and creating positive public relations. Hospital leaders acknowledged potential resource challenges, including staff time, space to store supplies and funds to purchase items for some wishes. However, citing stories they had heard from families and staff, hospital leaders shared their view of how their decisions about the value of clinical programmes extend beyond quantifiable outcomes.ConclusionsWhen reflecting on this personalised palliative care programme, hospital leaders described how inspiring narratives promoted institutional values in ways that are difficult to measure quantitatively. Leaders underscored the need to balance the value that a programme brings with the resources it requires, stating how different types of evidence influence their support of new programmes.Trial registration numberNCT04147169.