Transitioning from Curative Care to End-of-Live Care in the Acute Care Hospital: A Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study
This study examined the experiences of members of multidisciplinary teams in two urban acute hospitals when transitioning from curative care to end-of-life care with a patient. With so many people continuing to die in acute care hospital wards (Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, 2016; Cavaye & Watts, 2012; Grande, 2009), it is important to understand how the members of the multidisciplinary team in hospitals experience this transition, and to recognize what is being done well and what needs to be improved upon in this transition. The study was undertaken with a hermeneutical phenomenological research approach. Participants interviewed in the study were physicians, social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists. Participants identified the acute care system as a barrier to end-of-life care. Participants also identified that patients’ and families’ difficulty with accepting end-of-life prognoses as a delay to the provision of good end-of-life care. Participants contradicted the existing literature which suggested that health care providers, as a population, were uncomfortable with dying patients and in denial of death. Ultimately, the study revealed that these healthcare providers were interested and invested in providing good end-of-life care to their patients, but could benefit from better support from the acute care system they work in, as well as more access to, and opportunity for, training and education in this area.
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Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina