Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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Staff Nurses Experience of Providing Palliative Care for
Elderly Patients in Hospital.
AUTHOR: Breda Trimble. Practice Development. Msc, Bsc,
RGN, RNT.
Milford Care Centre
Co Limerick
Introduction/Background
The provision of effective terminal care in hospital has been
compounded by a number of demographic and health related
trends. An increase in the older population, advancements in
medical and pharmaceutical technology, socio-economic changes
and the dispersing disintegrating family along with a higher
percentage of chronic diseases have contributed to an increased
proportion of elderly dying in hospital (Institute of Public Health In
Ireland, 2001).
Given the increasing older population and a growing recognition that
non – malignant diseases require periods of palliation, it is
envisioned there will be rising numbers of patients in hospital wards
in need of palliative care.
Mc Donnell et al, (2002) claim nurses are the healthcare
professionals dying patients have the most contact with. However, a
number of studies conducted outside of Ireland reveal there are a
number of challenges facing nurses when caring for dying patients
in hospital that consequently contribute to an insufficient level of
care being provided.
There have been no research studies conducted within the Irish HSE
that can support or rebuke the above statement.
This has prompted the need for this research to be undertaken.
AIM:
The aim of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of the
nurse's experience in providing palliative care to elderly patients in
an Irish Hospital.
Study Design:
A qualitative design using the phenomenological approach of
Husserl (1931) was chosen to enable the exploration of nurses
experience in providing palliative care to elderly patients and to give
meaning and insight into those experiences.
Methodology:
Individual, unstructured, tape recorded interviews with N=6 nurses,
who had experience of working with dying older people in an acute
hospital. The interviews were tape recorded and data analysis was
conducted using Colaizzi (1978)
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