Abstract
Background
Globally, residential aged care is a common place to receive palliative care. Yet
70% of the workforce is made up of unregulated health care workers, many of whom have
no formal palliative care education and report a lack of knowledge and ability to
provide best practice palliative care.
Question
Does the provision of palliative care education to unregulated health care workers
in residential aged care, improve knowledge, confidence, and ability to provide best
practice care to residents with palliative care needs?
Methods
A literature search utilising health care databases CINAHL, MEDLINE, and AgeLine was
conducted. Citations were screened against the inclusion criteria and the methodology
from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Manual for Evidence Synthesis, assisted in
selecting articles that informed the research question.
Findings
Nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Four areas of interest were derived: (i)
Palliative Care knowledge and confidence; (ii) Communication skills; (iii) Roles and
responsibilities; (iv) Barriers to implementation and sustainability.
Discussion
Evidence suggests the provision of palliative care education to unregulated health
care workers may be beneficial in imparting knowledge and confidence, ultimately resulting
in an improved ability to provide best practice care. However, barriers within the
aged care system may interfere with the implementation and sustainability of newly
acquired knowledge. Limitations of the review include the unknown quality of the educational
content provided.
Conclusion
Palliative care education is part of the solution to enhanced outcomes for aged care
residents but is not the complete answer. Systemic industry change is required to
achieve sustainable outcomes.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 19, 2022
Accepted:
April 26,
2022
Received in revised form:
April 26,
2022
Received:
November 20,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
