Interdisciplinary Training to Enhance Home Health Clinician Knowledge of Palliative Care: Findings from the PIVOT Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND

Older adults receiving home health care (HHC) frequently experience serious illness, yet palliative care (PC) is rarely integrated into HHC practice.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and evaluate an interdisciplinary program to support a PalliatIVe hOme healTh (PIVOT) model to build HHC clinicians' knowledge and confidence in addressing PC needs.

METHODS

PIVOT included home health clinicians who completed 4 hours of online discipline-specific learning and an in-person session with case-based didactics, facilitated discussion, and reflective exercises. Pre- and post-training surveys assessed knowledge, confidence, and comfort across PC domains.

RESULTS

Participants reported improvements in confidence assessing and managing symptoms, knowledge of advance directives, and comfort updating directives. The largest increase was in understanding what specialty PC provides. All participants rated the training as "very helpful" and indicated intention to apply skills in practice.

CONCLUSIONS

This interdisciplinary pilot training demonstrated feasibility and early signals of improved PC knowledge and readiness among HHC clinicians to implement core PC practices.