Facilitation: the concepts in use in palliative care nursing

Facilitation is a fairly common technique for helping palliative care patients in the clinical setting. Reflective practice provides an opportunity for practitioners to think out the concepts in use while facilitating care. This study reports on the views of practitioners who experienced reflective learning and facilitation as part of a Course, and attempted to identify, in their practice, the concepts they used to facilitate patient care. The aim was to recognize concepts that practitioners (and teachers) can use to facilitate care. The methods used for research were participant observation and interviews. Data analysis consisted of coding and categorizing the concepts emerging from this study. The result was identification of the PACTS mnemonic crystallising the key concepts in facilitation: Purpose, Action, Collaboration, critical Thinking, and Support and confrontation.