Miss Emily Weston1, Associate Professor Diana Jefferies, Doctor Antoinette Cotton, Doctor Paul Glew
1Australian Catholic University, Blacktown, Australia
Biography:
I am a Lecturer in Nursing with Australian Catholic University. I am passionate about providing a warm, supportive learning environment for students. Learning is an experiential process. Prior to nursing I had ten years of experience working in child protection and case management. Working with young people and families in crisis gave me an in-depth understanding of the cycles of disadvantage that create vulnerable families. This impacts upon my nursing career in that these families are some of the primary groups represented in the clinical setting. My areas of interest include emergency nursing, palliative care nursing, nursing philosophy and education.
Abstract:
Background:
In the Australian healthcare system, community nurses play a vital role in the arena of palliative care in the home through the promotion of individual choice that forms the foundation for person-centred care. However, with reduced on-call assistance and the increased responsibilities associated with independent practice, the community setting is different to inpatient palliative care and yet, little is known about this topic area.
Aims:
The aim of this study is to explore the lived experiences of nurses providing palliative care in the community.
Methods:
Data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with Registered Nurses who have provided palliative care in the community setting. Interviews were conducted via Zoom and audio data analysed using the Colaizzi analysis method. This study utilised purposive sampling to identify Registered Nurses who have experienced the phenomenon of providing palliative care in the community and were willing to participate in the study. Interviews commenced by asking all participants one question: What is your experience of providing palliative care in the community setting?
Results:
The goal in descriptive phenomenology is to describe the essential structures of human experience from a first-person perspective. Interviews were conducted utilising an open-ended questioning approach thus enabling participants to reveal aspects of their experience deemed worthy of discussion. Each interview was unique and represented a stream of narrative consciousness described by the individual. During data collection, the research team were privy to stories of grief, compassion and hope as experienced by the participants. The interviewing experience was cathartic. Upon reflection, the described experiences of the participants enabled the researchers to reflect on this topic with greater insight.
Conclusions:
This study seeks to illuminate the lived experiences of nurses who provide palliative care in the community and to contribute to the national evidence-base for community-centred palliative care and to policy development.