Clinical staff perceptions on the quality of end-of-life care in an Australian acute private hospital: a cross-sectional survey
Rosemary Saunders
A C , Courtney Glass A , Karla Seaman A , Karen Gullick B , Julie Andrew B , Anne Wilkinson A and Ashwini Davray B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia. Email: c.glass@ecu.edu.au; k.seaman@ecu.edu.au; anne.wilkinson@ecu.edu.au
B Hollywood Private Hospital, Monash Avenue, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia. Email: GullickK@ramsayhealth.com.au; 1julieandrew1@gmail.com; Ashwini@ccwa.net.au
C Corresponding author. Email: rosemary.saunders@ecu.edu.au
Australian Health Review 45(6) 771-777 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH20329
Submitted: 18 November 2020 Accepted: 17 May 2021 Published: 10 August 2021
Journal Compilation © AHHA 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Objective To explore the perceptions of clinical staff on the quality of end-of-life care in an acute private hospital.
Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of clinical staff in an acute private hospital were surveyed using a validated end-of-life survey. Data from the surveys were analysed using descriptive statistics for quantitative responses and inductive content analysis for the open-ended responses.
Results Overall, 133 staff completed the survey. Of these, 107 had cared for a dying patient in the hospital. In total, 87.6% of participants felt confident in their ability to recognise a dying patient and 66.7% felt confident in their ability to talk to the patient and family. Almost one-third had not received specific training in the area.
Conclusions Hospitals need to take the lead in ensuring end-of-life care processes are embedded across clinical areas. This includes providing staff with end-of-life care education and support in the delivery of end-of-life care. These strategies will facilitate safe and quality end-of-life care, including better collaboration between patients, families and staff.
What is known about the topic? Key to providing quality end-of-life care in hospitals are strategic guidelines that support good clinical governance and adequately trained staff to deliver the care.
What does the paper add? This study highlights the importance of clinical staff in all areas having skills and confidence in providing care to dying patients and their families.
What are the implications for practitioners? It is important that all health practitioners implement strategies to overcome gaps in staff education and support, to ensure all patients and families receive quality end-of-life care.
Keywords: hospitals, private; nursing, health professional, hospital; mixed-methods, end-of-life care, palliative care, terminal care.
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