End-of-life care pathways as tools to promote and support a good death: a critical commentary

Managing death: navigating divergent logics in end-of-life care

Delivery of end-of-life care has gained prominence in the UK, driven by a focus upon the importance of patient choice. In practice choice is influenced by several factors, including the guidance and conduct of healthcare professionals, their different understandings of what constitutes 'a good death', and contested ideas of who is best placed to deliver this. We argue that the attempt to elicit and respond to patient choice is shaped in practice by a struggle between distinct 'institutional logics'. Drawing on qualitative data from a two-part study, we examine the tensions between different professional and organisational logics in the delivery of end-of-life care. Three broad clusters of logics are identified: finance, patient choice and professional authority. We find that the logic of finance shapes the meaning and practice of 'choice', intersecting with the logic of professional authority in order to shape choices that are in the 'best interest' of the patient. Different groups might be able to draw upon alternative forms of professionalism, and through these enact different versions of choice. However, this can resemble a struggle for ownership of patients at the end of life, and therefore, reinforce a conventional script of professional authority.

Perceptions of good and bad death among Korean social workers in elderly long-term care facilities

This qualitative study explored the perception of good and bad death among 15 social workers serving in elderly care facilities in Korea. A good death involved dying peacefully without much suffering, dying with family members present, death following a good life, and believing in a better afterlife. A bad death involved burdening children in the dying process, dying after extensive illness, dying isolated from family, and death from suicide. To ensure a good death and avoid a bad death for elders, social workers are encouraged to closely engage with not only elders but also their families.

The “good death”: An integrative literature review

Objective:

The “good death” is a dynamic concept and has evolved over time to become a “revivalist” good death: a planned, peaceful, and dignified death, at home, surrounded by family members. As the “good death” continues to evolve, the key questions are: How do cultural perceptions of death and dying change? What are the forces that shape Western attitudes and beliefs around death and dying? And how does the “good death” discourse frame the dying experience in contemporary society? The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the underlying discourse in the literature on the “good death” in Western societies.

Method:

An integrative literature review of data from experimental and nonexperimental sources in PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and SocINDEX of 39 articles from 1992 to 2014.

Results:

Four main themes emerged from reviewing 39 articles on the “good death”: (1) the “good death” as control, (2) the wrong “good death,” (3) the threatened “good death,” and (4) the denial of dying.

Significance of Results:

Evolving in response to prominent social attitudes and values, the contemporary “good death” is a powerful, constraining discourse that limits spontaneity and encourages one way to die. Social, political, and demographic changes now threaten the stability of the “good death”; dying is framed as an increasingly negative or even unnecessary process, thus marginalizing the positive aspects of dying and rendering dying absent, invisible.

Evaluating the Liverpool Care Pathway for care of the terminally ill in rural Australia

PURPOSE

This study evaluates a pilot implementation of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), a clinical tool used to guide the care of dying patients in the last days of life, on the end-of-life care for dying patients in three regions in rural Australia.

METHODS

The LCP was implemented at 13 participating sites: nine hospitals (general wards), one community-based palliative care service, and three in-hospital palliative care units. To evaluate the implementation of the LCP, 415 eligible patient records were examined: 223 pre-implementation and 192 post-implementation (116 on the LCP and 76 receiving usual care). The primary analysis compared all patients pre-implementation of the LCP versus all patients post-implementation.

RESULTS

Increases were found post-implementation for communication with other health professionals and with patients or family (pre-69 %, post-87 %; p ≤ 0.000), use of palliative medications (pre-87 %, post-98 %; p ≤ 0.000) and frequency of symptom assessments (pre-66 %, post-82 %; p ≤ 0.000). Fewer blood and radiological investigations were conducted and venous access devices used in the post-implementation groups than in the pre-implementation period.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that when rigorously implemented, the LCP improves important components of end-of-life care for dying patients and their families.

What Constitutes a Good and Bad Death?: Perspectives of Homeless Older Adults

This qualitative study explored perspectives toward a good or bad death among 21 older homeless adults residing in transitional housing. Using grounded theory approach, the themes for a good death were (a) dying peacefully; (b) not suffering; (c) experiencing spiritual connection; and (d) making amends with significant others. Themes for a bad death were (a) experiencing death by accident or violence; (b) prolonging life with life supports; (c) becoming dependent while entering a dying trajectory; and (d) dying alone. Healthcare professionals need to develop approaches for end-of-life care grounded in understanding unique needs of older homeless adults.

Near-Death Experiences and the Psychology of Death

Little is known about the psychological phenomenology of death. Reported across known history and in all cultures by those who have died or been close to death, NDEs challenge objective-mechanistic models by suggesting the phenomenology of death may involve a variety of complex psychological processes. This article discusses three notable characteristics of the NDE—loss of the fear of death, psychological sequelae, and complex conscious abilities—supporting this claim. The implications these have for advancing societal understandings of death are discussed, and their pragmatic application for professions where death is frequently encountered, such as palliative care, is addressed.

The media critique of the Liverpool Care Pathway: some implications for nursing education

End-of-life care pathways are championed around the globe as tools that might be used to enhance the quality of care at the very end of a person's life. This paper examines recent negative media discourse in the UK about the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP). This media coverage may have had damaging effects, but it has also served to highlight inappropriate and even suboptimal end-of-life care. While recognising the pervading influence of organisational structures and cultures, some implications for initial and ongoing education of nurses are identified.

Improving the quality of palliative and terminal care in the hospital by a network of palliative care nurse champions: the study protocol of the PalTeC-H project

BACKGROUND

The quality of care of patients dying in the hospital is often judged as insufficient. This article describes the protocol of a study to assess the quality of care of the dying patient and the contribution of an intervention targeted on staff nurses of inpatient wards of a large university hospital in the Netherlands.

METHODS/DESIGN

We designed a controlled before and after study. The intervention is the establishment of a network for palliative care nurse champions, aiming to improve the quality of hospital end-of-life care. Assessments are performed among bereaved relatives, nurses and physicians on seven wards before and after introduction of the intervention and on 11 control wards where the intervention is not applied. We focus on care provided during the last three days of life, covered in global ratings of the quality of life in the last three days of life and the quality of dying, and various secondary endpoints of treatment and care affecting quality of life and dying.

DISCUSSION

With this study we aim to improve the understanding of and attention for patients' needs, and the quality of care in the dying phase in the hospital and measure the impact of a quality improvement intervention targeted at nurses.

Promoting health and wellbeing at the end of life: the contribution of care pathways

Enhancing end-of-life care (EoLC) is a core component of international governments' health policies. Across the globe, nurses make significant contributions to EoLC and, at this delicate time, have the power to positively influence the health and wellbeing of those facing death. Indeed, health promotion is a core component of the nurse's role. Originating in the UK, EoLC pathways have been adopted around the world. Their broad aim is to optimise the quality of the dying process, enabling people to 'die well' across care settings. This paper examines EoLC pathways in terms of promoting health and wellbeing in this discrete stage of the dying trajectory. Concepts of health and health promotion are described briefly and the idea of health-promoting palliative care and its association with a good death examined. The ensuing discussion relates to two EoLC documents. While acknowledging that much has been achieved it is argued that, despite the potential for promoting health and wellbeing, a professionally led, biomedical approach predominates, and in terms of promoting health and wellbeing at the end of life there is a pressing need for proactive advance care planning at an earlier point in the illness trajectory.