A new approach to multi-professional end of life care training using a sequential simulation (SqS Simulation™) design: A mixed methods study

Crossing Antarctica: Hospital nurses' experience of knowledge when providing palliative and end of life care

BACKGROUND

Hospitals can be challenging environments for nurses when providing palliative and end-of-life care. Understanding hospital nurses' experiences of their application of palliative and end-of-life knowledge could help direct future education to support such challenging care.

AIM

To understand how hospital nurses use knowledge in palliative and end-of-life care situations.

METHOD

Interpretive phenomenology was used to understand 10 hospital nurses' experiences and ability to apply palliative and end-of-life knowledge.

FINDINGS

The hospital nurses' experiences of knowledge in palliative and end-of-life care was like Crossing Antarctica: unpredictable due to the changing demands and life course leading to uncertainty with knowledge and feeling helpless. Two themes emerged; Knowledge and uncertainty describes feeling unprepared, lacking in knowledge; knowledge and empowerment describes the nurses experiences of applying their knowledge in clinical environments.

CONCLUSION

The nurses' sense of uncertainly could be attributed to their palliative and end-of-life knowledge being systematic, making it difficult for them to manage uncertain situations. Some nurses were empowered to apply knowledge, others were disempowered, suggesting the ability to apply their palliative and end-of-life knowledge is not determined by knowledge alone but also by the position they held.

Intensive Care Unit Critical Incident Analysis as an Objective Tool to Select Content for a Simulation Curriculum

INTRODUCTION

The intensive care unit (ICU) offers a unique environment where emergency events are frequent, high-stakes, and carefully documented, which makes it an ideal setting to research the specific technical skills, which are deployed during such events. This study aimed to describe a method of objectively identifying skills and scenarios, which should be prioritized for inclusion in a simulation curriculum.

METHOD

A retrospective audit of all available critical incident data (11 months) from a 36-bed tertiary ICU was performed. Code blue events were analyzed. Data were coded according to a rubric based on Le Guen and Costa-Pinto ( Intern Med J. 2020;51(8):1298-1303) tallying the occurrence of common ICU scenarios and skills.Documentation of each event was analyzed. The frequency with which a skill or scenario appeared in these events was considered as "high frequency" if it occurred in more than 20% of the events.The trainees' confidence in a particular skill was assessed by means of a self-assessment survey questionnaire (based on an anchored 6-item rating scale).

RESULTS

One hundred twenty-one incidents were analyzed. Sixteen were eliminated because of insufficient documentation. The most common skills during these emergency events were familiarity with the advanced life support trolley (34% of events), electrocardiogram (ECG) rhythm strip interpretation (32.4%), and the operation of an external defibrillator (29.5%).Most trainees surveyed are preparing to undergo training in anesthesia (58%) or intensive care (28%). Specialized areas of expertise (troubleshooting an extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuit or intra-aortic balloon pump) had the lowest confidence scores (average scores of 0.81 and 0.72).

CONCLUSIONS

We highlighted a novel, reproducible, and objective methodology by which critical incident data can be integrated with trainee self-assessment to generate a targeted simulation curriculum.

Attitudes towards the dying and death anxiety in acute care nurses - can a workshop make any difference? A mixed-methods evaluation

OBJECTIVES

In Singapore, the core curriculum for end-of-life (EOL) care used in nurse training courses is limited. Only 45% of nurses indicated familiarity with inpatient palliative care. Nurses who lack skills in palliative care may develop anxiety and negative attitudes towards caring for dying patients. We explored whether a two-day, multimodal EOL care workshop could reduce nurses' death anxiety and improve nurses' skills, knowledge, and attitude towards palliative care.

METHODS

Forty-five nurses participated in the workshop. At baseline before and at six weeks after, a 20-item knowledge-based questionnaire and the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) were administered. Six weeks post-workshop, in-depth interviews were conducted. We employed descriptive statistics, student paired samples t-test and inductive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

There was a significant improvement in nurses' knowledge score (p < 0.01) and reduction in their death anxiety score (p < 0.01). Fear of Death (p = 0.025) and Death Avoidance (p = 0.047) sub-scores decreased significantly. However, the remaining domains such as Neutral Acceptance, Approach Acceptance, and Escape Acceptance did not show any significant difference, although Escape Acceptance showed a trend towards a reduced score (p = 0.063). After the workshop, more nurses adopted the Neutral Acceptance stance (76.2%), and none of them fell into the Fear of Death subdomain. Most nurses interviewed reported a positive change in their knowledge, attitudes, and practice even after the workshop.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

The multimodal palliative care workshop was useful in improving nurses' EOL knowledge and reducing their anxiety towards death. The positive change in nurses' attitudes and practices were noted to be sustained for at least six weeks after the intervention.

Student-LED interprofessional sequential simulation improves communication and teamwork

BACKGROUND

Although simulation is a well-established learning method in Finland, sequential simulations are still uncommon. The objective of this project was to pilot interprofessional, sequential simulation demonstrating acute clinical pathways. The learning objectives were communication and collaboration.

METHODS

Two groups consisting of nursing and emergency care students planned the simulation exercises. Other participants in the simulation were medical students, biomedical science students and radiography students.

RESULTS

Participants considered the sequential simulation were a good learning method particularly for skills in communication, patient encounters and working in an interprofessional setting.

CONCLUSIONS

An interprofessional, sequential simulation of a clinical pathway is a good method to practice non-technical skills. Sequential simulation also helps students understand the whole health care system.

Experiences of new nurses dealing with death in a paediatric setting: A descriptive qualitative study

AIMS

To explore and describe the experiences, challenges and coping strategies of new nurses dealing with paediatric death in a clinical setting.

DESIGN

A descriptive qualitative study design was used.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the experiences of 12 new paediatric nurses from a tertiary public hospital in Singapore. Data were collected from September 2019-December 2019. A thematic analysis was performed for data analysis.

RESULTS

Four themes were generated: (a) a spectrum of emotions; (b) the 'blame' game; (c) getting through the grief; and (d) new nurses' wish list. The new nurses tended to be emotionally affected by their first death experience. They felt anxious and personally responsible for the death but eventually controlled their emotions. Colleagues, religion and self-actualization were key in overcoming grief.

CONCLUSION

The experiences nurses go through at the early stages of their profession shape future workplace attitudes. Additional training and support should be provided to new nurses to build their confidence in managing end-of-life care. Training should include cultural awareness and communication skills to equip nurses with the necessary skills.

IMPACT

This research will have an impact on institutions, which develop culturally congruent training and support platforms that prepare new nurses for nursing practice. This research will drive future investigations on the long-term effects of paediatric death on new nurses.

Online education about end-of-life care and the donation process after brain death and circulatory death. Can we influence perception and attitudes in critical care doctors? A prospective study

Impact of training on end-of-life care (EOLC) and the deceased donation process in critical care physicians' perceptions and attitudes was analysed. A survey on attitudes and perceptions of deceased donation as part of the EOLC process was delivered to 535 physicians working in critical care before and after completion of a online training programme (2015-17). After training, more participants agreed that nursing staff should be involved in the end-of-life decision process (P < 0.001) and that relatives should not be responsible for medical decisions (P < 0.001). Postcourse, more participants considered 'withdrawal/withholding' as similar actions (P < 0.001); deemed appropriate the use of pre-emptive sedation in all patients undergoing life support treatment adequacy (LSTA; P < 0.001); and were favourable to approaching family about donation upon LSTA agreement, as well as admitting them in the intensive care unit (P < 0.001) to allow the possibility of donation. Education increased the number of participants prone to initiate measures to preserve the organs for donation before the declaration of death in patients undergoing LSTA (P < 0.001). Training increased number of positive terms selected by participants to describe donation after brain and circulatory death. Training programmes may be useful to improve physicians' perception and attitude about including donation as part of the patient's EOLC.