Mrs Melissa Bruno1,2, Dr Aileen Collier1,3, Mrs Kerri Grant1, Dr Claudia Virdun2,3
1Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, Modbury, Australia, 2College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia, 3Flinders Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death, and Dying, Bedford Park, Australia
Biography:
Melissa brings over 20 years of experience in palliative care across acute, community, aged care, and hospice settings. Her work focuses on building palliative care capacity in acute care nursing teams. She is passionate about education, mentorship and research that supports nurses in delivering compassionate, evidence-based care at the end of life.
Melissa is currently working as a Nurse Consultant with the Northern Adelaide Palliative Service and is a Lecturer with the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University.
Abstract:
Background:
Most Australians die in acute hospital settings, yet the experiences of patients in their final weeks to days of life are rarely captured due to their exclusion from research. This study builds on previous work using a patient reported experience measure (PREM) to explore its feasibility and acceptability for patients in the final weeks to days of life in hospital.
Aims:
To investigate the feasibility and acceptability of using the ConsideRATE PREM for dying patients on general wards in an acute hospital setting to inform a quality improvement initiative – the Palliative Care Link Nurse Program.
Methods:
A prospective feasibility and acceptability study using ConsideRATE, a validated PREM for people with advanced serious illness. Patients in their final weeks of life or their families by proxy were included. The study was conducted across seven wards at two sites, within a large metropolitan local health network. Feasibility and acceptability were measured through response rate and content analysis of data.
Results:
Of 35 eligible participants, 34 consented and 33 completed the PREM over a six-month period, yielding a high participation rate of 97%, indicating high acceptability. Most provided free-text comments, with almost 100% of these comments aligning directly with the focus of the question. Free text comments most often offering actionable insights to improve care came from responses to Question 8 “other things you want to share” (66%) and advanced care planning (70%), demonstrating feasibility.
Conclusions:
Dying patients and/or their families in hospital want to have their voices heard and offer valuable insights to improve care. The consideRATE PREM is both feasible and acceptable for use in acute hospital wards with dying patients. Consideration needs to be made as to who can best administer the PREM in this population and how to apply the findings to hospital quality improvement initiatives.