Challenges faced by Chinese community nurses when providing home-based hospice and palliative care: a descriptive qualitative study

BMC Palliative Care

Mingzhu Su¹  Nengliang Yao¹  Jinxin Zhang²  Yingjuan Cao²  Joyce Cheng³ 

[1] Centre for Health Management and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China;NHC Key Lab of Health Economics and Policy Research, Shandong University, Shandong, Jinan, China;School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China;Department of Nursing, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Shandong, Jinan, China;University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences, Charlottesville, VA, USA;University of Virginia, School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA;

关键词: Community nurse;    Home-based hospice and palliative care;    Challenge;    Qualitative research;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12904-022-00905-8

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHospital facilities in China are experiencing increased strain on existing systems and medical resources, necessitating the use of home-based hospice and palliative care (HBHPC). HBHPC primarily relies on community nurses and related medical personnel. Understanding the challenges that community nurses face when providing this form of care is urgently needed to optimize the design and delivery of HBHPC. Our study aimed to gain insight into community nurses’ challenges when providing HBHPC for patients.MethodsWe performed a descriptive qualitative study using a phenomenology approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 13 nurses from two community health service centers in Jinan, Shandong Province, China. A thematic analysis was applied to identify themes from the transcribed data.ResultsThree major themes emerged: 1) Community nurses’ inadequate self-preparation for providing HBHPC; 2) Patients and their families’ non-collaboration in HBHPC; 3) Community health service career disadvantages. Many negative experiences can be attributed to institutional barriers.ConclusionCommunity nurses faced multifaceted challenges in home care settings. This study could provide a framework for guiding the improvement of interventional variables in the provision of HBHPC. Future research should involve developing effective methods of improving community nurses’ job motivation and community health service institutions’ incentive systems, as well as increasing advocacy around HBHPC.

【 授权许可】

CC BY