Experiences of allied health clinicians and tertiary educators working in and teaching palliative care - a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE

Palliative and end-of-life care should be considered core business for aged care and healthcare teams in these settings. With a growing ageing population, the primary care workforce faces growing demand to deliver palliative care. This study aimed to explore the experiences of allied health clinicians and tertiary educators working in, and teaching, palliative care with an ageing focus in Australia.

METHODS

We undertook a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with clinicians experienced in aged and palliative care and tertiary educators delivering aged and palliative care curriculum content from four allied health disciplines (dietetics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology). Guided by critical realism ontology and a constructivist epistemology, reflexive thematic analysis was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Eleven participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis yielded two key themes and five subthemes. The two key themes were: (i) Barriers to best practice (n = 4 subthemes) and (ii) Enablers of palliative care best practice (n = 2 subthemes). Key barriers were that curriculum content is lacking and the medical model limits the volume and quality of care delivered. Enablers to quality care were self-directed learning and clinical experience.

CONCLUSION

Palliative and end-of-life care in aged care should foster reablement to support continuing agency and dignity through person-centred care. Allied health professionals are well-positioned to support this approach. However, facilitating allied health best practice will require addressing the reported barriers, including clinician preparedness and funding sufficient to meet demand and need.