Action research in a palliative care education programme

Using an action research approach, the author worked with district nurses to enable them to identify their own palliative care education needs and to plan the appropriate education programme, with reflective practice enabling the identification of further education needs. This approach overcame some of the problems of pre-planned, unresponsive palliative care education programmes. Both the learning and the action research approach are developed through continual reflective practice, which reduces the theory-practice gap as theory is generated from practice. The knowledge gained from reflective practice is as relevant to nursing as the knowledge derived from academic theories. Reflective practice within palliative care education facilitates learning in a relatively new field of practice and generates a greater understanding of the complexities of palliative care and associated education needs.