Ms Melissa Thompson1
1SA Paediatric Palliative Care Service – Women's and Children's Health Network, North Adelaide, Australia
Biography:
Melissa has worked as a Clinical Nurse in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide for 15 years. Melissa has worked as a Nurse Consultant for the South Australian specialist Paediatric Palliative Care Service (PPCS) since 2022. Melissa has completed a Graduate Diploma in Palliative Care and is working towards completing a Master of Palliative Care in 2024. Melissa has received project funding from the Quality of Care Collaborative Australia: Delivering Education in Paediatric Palliative Care (QuoCCA) to improve the care of dying children and their families in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Abstract:
Background: The majority of children who die in hospital, die in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Despite this, PICU nurses fear they are ill-equipped to transition from a curative and life-prolonging focus to a child and family-centred palliative approach to care. This often results in PICU nurses experiencing distress; from doing their best but knowing they are providing suboptimal end-of-life care to children and their families.
Quality of Care Collaborative Australia (QuoCCA), together with the South Australian Paediatric Palliative Care Service, are supporting the initiative and passion of a PICU nurse with 15 years’ experience, to address this gap in knowledge and skill in the PICU.
Aims:
Build confidence and capacity of PICU nurses to provide child and family-centred palliative care.
Improve the quality of care provided to dying children and their families in the PICU.
Methods: Tailored education was delivered face-to-face to small groups of PICU nurses. Adult learning principles were used to deliver current evidence-based information and engage attendees in group discussions and activities. The education was specifically targeted to attendee level of experience, ranging from nursing graduates transitioning to professional practice, to Nurse Educators, Nurse Consultants, and Clinical Nurses with more than two decades of PICU experience. 93 nurses participated in the educational initiatives.
Results: The feedback received from the attendees and the Nurse Educators who facilitated the sessions has been overwhelmingly positive. Nurses’ distress when caring for dying children and their families has significantly reduced, while their job satisfaction has increased. The overall quality of care provided to dying children and their families has improved significantly.
Conclusion: PICU nurses need ongoing opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills required to confidently provide quality child and family-centred palliative care. Children and their families deserve to receive quality care when facing death in the PICU.