“I don’t think they really link together, do they?” An ethnography of multi-professional involvement in advance care planning in nursing homes
“I don’t think they really link together, do they?” An ethnography of multi-professional involvement in advance care planning in nursing homes
Background: given the globally ageing population, care homes have an important role in delivering palliative and end-of-life care. Advance Care Planning (ACP) is promoted to improve the quality of end-of-life care in this setting. While many professionals can be involved in ACP, little is known about what influences multi-professional involvement and how multi-professional working impacts the ACP process in the UK. This study investigated multi-professional practice in relation to ACP in nursing homes.
Design and methods: an ethnography was undertaken in two UK nursing homes using multiple methods of data collection: observations, interviews and document review. Participants included: nursing home residents (n=6), relatives (n=4), nursing home staff (n=19) and visiting health and social care professionals (n=7). Analysis integrated thematic analysis, mapping of resident ACP trajectories and documentary analysis.
Findings: this paper suggests that multi-professional and relatives’ involvement in ACP was disjointed. Continuity and coordination were disrupted by misalignment of visiting professional and nursing home organisational structures. Findings show a ‘knotworking’ approach to teamwork and power imbalance between nursing home staff and visiting professionals, such as general practitioners. While residents wished their relatives to be involved in their ACP, this was not formally recognised, and limited support existed to facilitate their involvement.
Conclusion: the structure and organisation of multi-professional and relatives’ involvement in ACP led to fragmentation of the process. This marginalised the voice of both the resident and nursing home staff, thereby limiting ACP as a tool to enhance quality of end-of-life care.
Andrews, Nicola
b156d179-2451-4a03-8130-caa20a00b72d
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
28 December 2023
Andrews, Nicola
b156d179-2451-4a03-8130-caa20a00b72d
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Andrews, Nicola and Myall, Michelle
(2023)
“I don’t think they really link together, do they?” An ethnography of multi-professional involvement in advance care planning in nursing homes.
Age and Ageing, 52.
(doi:10.1093/ageing/afad234).
Abstract
Background: given the globally ageing population, care homes have an important role in delivering palliative and end-of-life care. Advance Care Planning (ACP) is promoted to improve the quality of end-of-life care in this setting. While many professionals can be involved in ACP, little is known about what influences multi-professional involvement and how multi-professional working impacts the ACP process in the UK. This study investigated multi-professional practice in relation to ACP in nursing homes.
Design and methods: an ethnography was undertaken in two UK nursing homes using multiple methods of data collection: observations, interviews and document review. Participants included: nursing home residents (n=6), relatives (n=4), nursing home staff (n=19) and visiting health and social care professionals (n=7). Analysis integrated thematic analysis, mapping of resident ACP trajectories and documentary analysis.
Findings: this paper suggests that multi-professional and relatives’ involvement in ACP was disjointed. Continuity and coordination were disrupted by misalignment of visiting professional and nursing home organisational structures. Findings show a ‘knotworking’ approach to teamwork and power imbalance between nursing home staff and visiting professionals, such as general practitioners. While residents wished their relatives to be involved in their ACP, this was not formally recognised, and limited support existed to facilitate their involvement.
Conclusion: the structure and organisation of multi-professional and relatives’ involvement in ACP led to fragmentation of the process. This marginalised the voice of both the resident and nursing home staff, thereby limiting ACP as a tool to enhance quality of end-of-life care.
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 October 2023
Published date: 28 December 2023
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Local EPrints ID: 485850
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/485850
ISSN: 0002-0729
PURE UUID: 17debdcf-1787-4b92-8ae0-804a4c989d35
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Date deposited: 20 Dec 2023 17:40
Last modified: 27 Apr 2024 02:14
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Author:
Nicola Andrews
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