End-of-life care in the patient's home

Providing end-of-life care in a patient's home is challenging, especially if the nurse is from a different ethnic background from the patient. Evidence shows that people from an ethnic minority background often experience poorer end-of-life care due to care providers not understanding their care needs.

To explore the experiences of community nursing staff caring for patients with an ethnic minority background at the end of their life.

Using a qualitative descriptive approach, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted and the data was thematically analysed.

Participants dealt with large tight-knit families, paternalism and controlling behaviours. There was a mistrust of Western palliative medicine. Language barriers and challenges were faced by the nursing staff, resulting in difficult conversations with the families. Different levels of the nursing staff's spiritual/cultural competencies were also identified. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the challenges.

This research has shed light on the challenges of individualising end-of-life care in a culturally diverse community in the UK. The nursing staff's cultural/spiritual competencies were challenged.