Posted: May 1st, 2024

Evaluating the impact of an interprofessional palliative care program in a long term acute care hospital

Evaluating the impact of an interprofessional palliative care program in a long term acute care hospital

Palliative care is an approach that aims to improve the quality of life of patients and families facing the challenges of serious illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual (World Health Organization, 2020). Palliative care is not only applicable at the end of life, but can be provided along the continuum of care, from diagnosis to death and bereavement. Palliative care can be delivered by different levels of providers, from primary to specialist palliative care teams, depending on the complexity and intensity of the patient’s needs.

Interprofessional palliative care is a collaborative practice model that involves multiple health professionals from different disciplines working together to provide comprehensive and coordinated palliative care to patients and families. Interprofessional palliative care can enhance communication, decision making, coordination, continuity, and quality of care, as well as reduce unnecessary interventions, costs, and caregiver burden (Reese et al., 2017). Interprofessional palliative care education is essential to prepare health professionals to work effectively in interprofessional teams and to deliver high-quality palliative care across settings and populations.

Long term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) are facilities that provide specialized care for patients with complex medical conditions who require prolonged hospitalization, often after discharge from intensive care units. LTACHs serve a vulnerable population with high mortality and morbidity rates, multiple comorbidities, functional limitations, and unmet palliative care needs (Nelson et al., 2010). However, palliative care services are often limited or unavailable in LTACHs, due to various barriers such as lack of awareness, education, resources, policies, and referral mechanisms (Unroe et al., 2010). Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the impact of implementing an interprofessional palliative care program in LTACHs, to improve the quality of life and outcomes of patients and families in this setting.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional palliative care program in a LTACH in terms of patient-, family-, and system-level outcomes. The paper will describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of the program, based on the following research questions:

– What are the effects of the interprofessional palliative care program on patient outcomes, such as symptom management, quality of life, satisfaction with care, advance care planning, and place of death?
– What are the effects of the interprofessional palliative care program on family outcomes, such as caregiver burden, coping, grief, and bereavement?
– What are the effects of the interprofessional palliative care program on system outcomes, such as length of stay, hospital readmissions, costs, and resource utilization?

The paper will also discuss the challenges, facilitators, and lessons learned from implementing and evaluating the interprofessional palliative care program in a LTACH setting.

The paper will use a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the impact of the interprofessional palliative care program. The quantitative data will be collected from medical records, surveys, and administrative databases. The qualitative data will be collected from interviews and focus groups with patients, families, and health professionals. The paper will use appropriate statistical and thematic analysis methods to analyze the data and answer the research questions.

The paper will follow the structure of introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and recommendations. The paper will use Harvard citation format for referencing sources. The paper will use a professional tone that is clear, concise, accurate, and respectful. The paper will use active voice, present tense, correct grammar and spelling. The paper will avoid empty adverbs,
hyperbole,
colloquialism,
incorrect verb forms,
dangling participles,
run-on sentences,
and double negatives.

The paper will use subtitles to organize the content into sections. The paper will use recent data
and examples
to support the arguments. The paper will include six scholarly bibliography references from sources such as scholar.google.com,
websites,
journals,
libraries,
and academic databases
for in-text citation,
from years 2020 to 2023.

The following are some examples of bibliography references that could be used for this paper:

– Nelson JE et al. (2010). Improving comfort and communication in the ICU: a practical new tool for palliative care performance measurement and feedback. Quality & Safety in Health Care 19(4): 303-309.
– Reese DJ et al. (2017). Interprofessional primary palliative care: A practical guide for family physicians. Canadian Family Physician 63(9): e411-e419.
– Unroe KT et al. (2010). Hospice and palliative care services for patients in long-term care settings. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 39(6): 1043-1051.
– World Health Organization (2020). Palliative care. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/palliative-care

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