Improving Palliative Care Conversations Through Targeted Education and Mentorship

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Nursing
• Healthcare Communication

Background:

• Palliative care (PC) is underutilized across the continuum of chronic illness.
• Effective communication by healthcare providers is crucial for initiating and revisiting sensitive discussions.
• Nurses' unique relationships with patients position them to enhance PC delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of advance care planning (ACP) strategies on nurses' confidence in initiating palliative care conversations.
• To improve the utilization of palliative care through enhanced nurse communication skills.

Main Methods:

• Nurses received training in ACP-specific interview strategies, including scripting and cued language.
• A preintervention/postintervention design was used to measure changes in nurses' confidence levels.
• Focus on initiating early palliative care discussions.

Main Results:

• Nurses demonstrated significantly increased confidence in initiating early palliative care conversations post-intervention.
• Improved communication efficacy was observed among nurses utilizing the trained strategies.
• Enhanced ability to confidently initiate PC discussions.

Conclusions:

• Advance care planning strategies, particularly specific interview techniques, empower nurses to initiate palliative care discussions.
• Increased nurse confidence directly correlates with improved palliative care delivery.
• Nurses play a vital role in enhancing palliative care access and utilization.