District nurses' experiences and perceptions of cancer patient referrals

Referral criteria: perceptions and experiences of district nursing students in Northern Ireland

An ever-ageing population and widening health inequalities intensify the complexity of care that is now delivered within community settings by district nurses. Appropriate referral criteria are required to facilitate the enhancement of efficient and equitable district nursing service provision. This study aimed to explore district nursing students' perceptions and experiences of district nursing referral criteria in Northern Ireland. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted using a purposive convenience sample of 10 district nursing students. Data were collected during online focus group interviews and analysed using a thematic framework. Four themes emerged: referral criteria; insight and inconsistency; task versus patient-centred care; and misunderstanding the service and referral quality. The themes reflect a lack of consensus with respect to referral criteria, contributing to inappropriate and poor-quality referrals. Appropriate and quality referrals to district nursing services are key to assuring sustainable service provision. Suitable access to district nursing services may be enhanced by developing consensus referral criteria.

Challenges and complexities of discharge planning from a district nursing perspective

Over the past 30 years, the Government has been promoting the transition of care from the acute setting to the community setting. Within the community setting, district nurses are described in the latest reports as endorsers of the care close to home. However, with the surge in hospital discharge, the district nursing workforce is faced with further pressure to cope with the drive to move care into the community. The purpose of this extended literature review (ELR) was to deconstruct the available data on the challenges and hurdles experienced by district nurses to manage hospital discharge. On reviewing the selected data, it was found that fragmented communication between secondary and primary sectors poses problems for effective care in the community. Additionally, the lack of understanding of the district nursing service and its remits creates obstacles for effective hospital discharge. Some practical solutions to resolve these problems are proposed.

Early support visits by district nurses to cancer patients at home: a multi-perspective qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Many palliative cancer patients spend much of their last year at home. In the UK, district nurses make frequent support visits to patients and carers at this time, yet surprisingly little is known about their supportive role in palliative care. Current studies are limited to district nurses' reports of practice, which offer limited insight into their content. Patients' and carers' views on district nurse support visits are largely unknown.

AIM

To present findings of a multi-perspective study that explored how district nurse early support visits are both described and carried out.

DESIGN

Focus groups with district nurses to explore views on the purpose of early support visits. Observation of support visits to identify how they are conducted. Patient and carer interviews to elucidate and verify district nurse data.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Participants included 58 district nurses, 10 palliative care patients and nine carers from four Primary Care Trusts in contrasting urban and rural locations.

RESULTS

District nurses had difficulty articulating early support visits. Observations however revealed a complex role comprising extensive physical and practical assessments, practical interventions, information giving, liaison, facilitation and referral. Patients and carers confirmed that they felt valued, reassured and supported by district nurses.

CONCLUSIONS

A multi-perspective approach provided new insights into district nurse support visits. Monitoring work described appears to have additional psycho-social benefits for patients and carers. The supportive role of district nurses needs to be clearly articulated and recognised so that colleagues, patients and carers access this valuable resource for palliative care patients.

Barriers to dying at home: the impact of poor co-ordination of community service provision for patients with cancer

For patients dying of cancer, there is an emphasis on giving choice regarding preferred location for care, with the option of dying at home, which is integral to UK government health initiatives such as the End of Life Care Programme. However, patients continue to be admitted to hospital in the terminal phase of their illness when they have expressed a desire to die at home. A qualitative study, using two audio tape-recorded focus group interviews, with a purposive sample of district nurses and community specialist palliative care nurses (19) was undertaken across two primary care trusts in the north west of England. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. From a service provision perspective, the results reveal that poor discharge planning and co-ordination, difficulty in establishing additional equipment and services together with inadequate out of hours medical provision were all factors contributing to hospital admissions for patients with cancer in the last hours and days of life, and thus were barriers to dying at home.

Introduction of the primary care cancer nursing role in a GP practice

Nurses have always had an important role in the care of cancer patients and many specific nursing roles in cancer services have been developed. A qualitative research strategy using semi-structured interviews was adopted in this case-study of the implementation of a primary care cancer nurse (PCCN) role in a general practice. The implementation of the PCCN role is reported in order to shed light on the extent to which integration of the role into existing systems of care had taken place; and to explore facilitating factors and barriers to the implementation of a new primary care role. Three major themes emerged from the data: the management of change; systems of care; and the complexity of professional interfaces. It is evident that the effective implementation of innovative nursing roles in primary care can present many challenges to the role holder and to the health and social care professionals with whom they come into contact. The importance of communication and consultation in the role implementation are emphasized.

District nurses' triggers for referral of patients to the Macmillan nurse

This study aimed to identify the triggers which motivate district nurses to refer patients to the Macmillan nursing service and resulted from observation within the researcher's clinical practice, when it was noted that referral patterns from district nurses to the Macmillan nursing service were very inconsistent. A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was utilised and the analysis of the findings identified three 'key' themes, which motivate district nurses to refer: knowledge and skills, interprofessional issues and perception of Macmillan. Within each theme emerged an amalgam of triggers which were complex in nature, pertaining not only to patient need, but also to the needs of the district nursing service. However, it became apparent during the analysis that there was also a lack of knowledge regarding the role of the Macmillan nurse. This lack of knowledge relating to the Macmillan nurse role had been affirmed previously by several authors (Graves and Nash 1993, Clark et al 2002, Ahmed et al 2004) but the literature also reported that the Macmillan nurse role was open to confusion (Clark et al 2002, Corner 2003). This confusion may potentially affect referrals and prevent patients from receiving the services of the Macmillan nurse. This study has established a need for the development of referral criteria into the Macmillan nursing service and that there is also an identified need for further research, providing scope for the Macmillan nurse and district nurse to work collaboratively to improve palliative services in the community.

Palliative care services in England: a survey of district nurses' views

Good access to health and social services is essential to enable palliative care patients to remain and die at home. This article reports on a survey of perceptions of availability of such services by district nursing teams (651 respondents) across eight cancer networks in England. Only just over half of respondents thought GP home visits and specialist palliative care assessment were always available. Many district nurses reported, at best, only sometimes being able to access inpatient palliative care beds, respite care, Marie Curie/night sitting services or social work assessment. Wide variation in access to all services was reported between cancer networks. Equitable provision of services is essential if more patients are to be cared for and die at home, but our results indicate considerable room for improvement. Primary care trusts, cancer networks and strategic health authorities must work together to ensure minimum standards of access nationally if the recommendations of the NICE guidance on supportive and palliative care are to be achieved.