Health professionals’ perceptions of palliative care for end-stage cardiac and respiratory conditions: a qualitative interview study

Fairlamb, Hannah J.; Murtagh, Fliss E.M.

doi:10.1186/s12904-021-00805-3

Health professionals’ perceptions of palliative care for end-stage cardiac and respiratory conditions: a qualitative interview study

Fairlamb, Hannah J.; Murtagh, Fliss E.M.

Authors

Hannah J. Fairlamb

Professor Fliss Murtagh F.Murtagh@hull.ac.uk
Professor of Palliative Care

Abstract

Background: End-stage cardiac and respiratory diseases are common in the UK. People with these end-stage conditions experience similar, or even worse, symptomatic suffering to cancer patients but are less likely to receive specialist palliative care services. The objective of this study is to explore health professional perceptions and current practices in relation to specialist palliative care for patients with end-stage cardiac and respiratory disease. Methods: Qualitative study using in-depth interviews with health professionals, audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis. The study was conducted with doctors and nurses from cardiology, respiratory, and palliative care specialities in the UK. The participants had to be involved clinically in providing care to people with end-stage cardiac or respiratory diseases. Results: A total of 16 health professionals participated (5 cardiology, 5 respiratory, and 6 palliative care). Participants reported variable disease trajectories in these diseases making deciding on timing of palliative care involvement difficult. This was complicated by lack of advance care planning discussions, attributed to poor communication, and lack of health professional time and confidence. Participants reported poor interdepartmental education and limited specialist palliative care involvement in multidisciplinary teams. Conclusions: Palliative care for end-stage cardiac and respiratory diseases needs more attention in research and practice. Better integration of advance care planning discussions and early patient education/professional awareness are needed to enable timely referral to palliative care. Moreover, increased interdepartmental working for health professionals via joint educational and clinical meetings is perceived as likely to support earlier and increased referral to specialist palliative care services.

Citation

Fairlamb, H. J., & Murtagh, F. E. (2021). Health professionals’ perceptions of palliative care for end-stage cardiac and respiratory conditions: a qualitative interview study. BMC Palliative Care, 20(1), Article 103. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00805-3

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jun 11, 2021
Online Publication Date	Jul 7, 2021
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2021
Deposit Date	Aug 31, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Sep 1, 2021
Journal	BMC Palliative Care
Print ISSN	1472-684X
Electronic ISSN	1472-684X
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	20
Issue	1
Article Number	103
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00805-3
Keywords	Palliative care; Hospice and palliative care nursing; Advance care planning; Cardiology; Respiratory tract diseases
Public URL	https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3813604

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