The purpose of the project was to increase the nursing staff at Friendship Health & Rehab 's awareness of advance care planning. My preceptor, who is also the director of nursing stated their facility had been going through a recent transition phase. Instead of being a primary long-term care unit, the patient acuity had changed and the nursing care was evolving to more med-surg based. As a result advance care planning was on the forefront due to end of life care no longer being eminent with their patients. Furthermore, the facility did not have a protocol or policy on advance care planning or advance directives. An educational in-service about advance care planning and advance directives would benefit the nursing staff at this time. This education
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Seymour, Almack & Kennedy (2010) concluded that the nurses ' greatest challenges with advance care planning were their own lack of knowledge and skills, as well as their colleagues. Many felt they lacked the confidence to have advance care planning conversations and would benefit from education or training (p.7). Another study produced similar results with staff members feeling apprehensive about having advance care planning conversations with their residents and that they simply lacked confidence. Stone, Kinley & Hockley (2013) also noted that a lack of knowledge and skills can block communication when having end-of-life care discussions (p.555). Blackford & Street (2013) determined through evidence that "many nurses do not undertake advance care planning due to inexperience, inadequate education, or lack of time and appropriateness in individual circumstances" (p.132). On the other hand, the authors did make an interesting finding that the experience level of a nurse could affect the outcome. The less-experienced nurses benefited more from the advance care planning education and resources to develop skills and confidence when initiating conversations while the more experienced nurses used clinical judgments and found the resources was a helpful reminder. Lee et al. (2013) determined that educating staff may improve patient and family satisfaction and quality of care, as well as improving advance care planning knowledge and …show more content…
It has been proposed that educating and training all healthcare professionals on communicating and delivering the best possible end-of-life care to their patients and continuing to dedicate themselves to advance care planning research would ultimately reduce some of this healthcare spending (p.551). In the short term nurses can improve compliance with advance care planning, satisfaction of care with patients and their families, reduction of family stress, anxiety and depression (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg, Rietjens & Heide, 2014, p. 1001). In the long term Research has shown that individuals are more comfortable and open to having advance care planning discussions when the staff initiate the conversation. They look to the staff for guidance. Nurses spend a great amount of time with patients and are viewed as highly trusted healthcare professionals and patient advocates. Since nurses have a significant influence on their patients ' care, it is important for them to participate and stay involved in healthcare reform to improve patient health outcomes. Patients should be given the correct information and necessary tools to make healthcare decisions; this is our role as a nurse. Seymour, Almack & Kennedy (2010) mentioned that there needs to be a change in culture to move practice forward which may be a slow and difficult
Seymour, Almack & Kennedy (2010) concluded that the nurses ' greatest challenges with advance care planning were their own lack of knowledge and skills, as well as their colleagues. Many felt they lacked the confidence to have advance care planning conversations and would benefit from education or training (p.7). Another study produced similar results with staff members feeling apprehensive about having advance care planning conversations with their residents and that they simply lacked confidence. Stone, Kinley & Hockley (2013) also noted that a lack of knowledge and skills can block communication when having end-of-life care discussions (p.555). Blackford & Street (2013) determined through evidence that "many nurses do not undertake advance care planning due to inexperience, inadequate education, or lack of time and appropriateness in individual circumstances" (p.132). On the other hand, the authors did make an interesting finding that the experience level of a nurse could affect the outcome. The less-experienced nurses benefited more from the advance care planning education and resources to develop skills and confidence when initiating conversations while the more experienced nurses used clinical judgments and found the resources was a helpful reminder. Lee et al. (2013) determined that educating staff may improve patient and family satisfaction and quality of care, as well as improving advance care planning knowledge and …show more content…
It has been proposed that educating and training all healthcare professionals on communicating and delivering the best possible end-of-life care to their patients and continuing to dedicate themselves to advance care planning research would ultimately reduce some of this healthcare spending (p.551). In the short term nurses can improve compliance with advance care planning, satisfaction of care with patients and their families, reduction of family stress, anxiety and depression (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg, Rietjens & Heide, 2014, p. 1001). In the long term Research has shown that individuals are more comfortable and open to having advance care planning discussions when the staff initiate the conversation. They look to the staff for guidance. Nurses spend a great amount of time with patients and are viewed as highly trusted healthcare professionals and patient advocates. Since nurses have a significant influence on their patients ' care, it is important for them to participate and stay involved in healthcare reform to improve patient health outcomes. Patients should be given the correct information and necessary tools to make healthcare decisions; this is our role as a nurse. Seymour, Almack & Kennedy (2010) mentioned that there needs to be a change in culture to move practice forward which may be a slow and difficult