Improving a nurse’s role in palliative care

Raising the profile of end-of-life care and working with local communities to increase awareness of the same will give a palliative care nurse ease time in giving services to patients.

Strategic commissioning involving all relevant provider organizations and assessing how any planned changes to service delivery would affect their quality of service delivery.

Identifying people approaching end-of-life by training health care professionals on how to identify such patients as well as improving their communication skills.

Care planning where people approaching their end-of-life have their needs assessed, their wishes and preferences discussed and an agreed set of actions recorded in a care plan.

Coordination of care which includes establishing a central coordinating facility as a single point of access through which services can be coordinated, as well as registers of people approaching end-of-life so that they can receive priority care.

Have rapid access to care, with health care, personal care and caregivers’ support services available in the community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Delivery of high quality services in all settings, including hospitals, the community, hospices, care homes, shelters and extra-care housing and ambulance services during the last days of life and death.

Involving and supporting caregivers, with recommendation for the family, including children, close friends and family caregivers to be closely involved in decision-making and to have all the information they require.

Learning to deal with their own loss & grief and coming in touch with their spiritual selves will help nurses continue to survive and thrive in end-of-life care provision.

Education and training, with a recommendation to embed end-of-life care in training curricula at all levels and for all staff in health care.

Measurement of end-of-life care through research, which should look into the structure, process and outcome of nurse’s role in palliative care.

Among KEHPCA’s efforts

Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) is set to start the second phase of the Waterloo project this year beginning from May. The True Colours Trust had graciously funded this phase of the project which will focus on strengthening the 11 government hospitals in phase one to be centres of excellence in service delivery, training and mentorship to increase the quality of palliative care that patients receive.

It is KEHPCA’s hope that the outcome of this will be that palliative care is fully embedded in 11 Level 5 and provincial government hospitals to enable them to provide high-quality palliative care and pain management to patients with life threatening illness regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, gender and economic status.

The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) project to start a Higher Diploma Course in palliative care is on schedule and will take the first students in September 2013.

KEHPCA has also conducted several Continued Medical Education sessions (CMEs) since January. Some of the institutions that have received education are Nkubu and Kyeni-Level 4 Hospitals in Eastern Province; Kalamba Dispensary; Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret and Nyeri Provincial Hospital.

“We need to continue working hard and advocating for palliative care at all levels of care.” KEHPCA’s Executive Dr Zipporah Ali says.

Contributors

Nyeri Hospice: Mercy Njau; Nursing Officer, Mercy Owiti; Nursing Officer, Esther Kahuthu; Nursing Officer and Eunice Ndiritu; Nursing Office.

Thika Hospice Foundation: Dorcas Kabugo; Volunteer Nurse.

Laikipia Palliative Care Centre: Elmelda Oirere; Nurse In-Charge and Lucy Maina; Volunteer Nurse.

Kenya Hospices and Palliative care Association: Dr Zipporah Ali; Executive Director.

End..