Three quarters of British Columbians who die, do so without specialized palliative care such as pain management, social support or advance care planning.
That statistic, released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, forms the basis of the Initiative for a Palliative Approach in Nursing: Evidence & Leadership (iPANEL). ItB次元官网网址檚 a project aimed at relieving some of the stresses associated with coming to the end of life.
B次元官网网址淭here are very few things that are more distressing to nurses than caring for people who are dying and in distress,B次元官网网址� said Kelli Stajduhar, associate professor in the University of Victoria School of Nursing and Centre on Aging, the co-leader of the initiative. B次元官网网址淣obody in the health system wants to see people in distress when theyB次元官网网址檙e dying.B次元官网网址�
IPANEL is for nurses by nurses, intended to promote quality end of life care for any person dying, regardless of diagnoses and whether treatment takes place at home or in a hospital.
The initiative began in January and will include several research projects over the next four years, including an upcoming nurses survey and a public education component.
The key focus, Stajduhar says, is identifying these patients who could benefit from a palliative approach, which centres on conversations with patients and their families about patient needs and wishes, comfort measures, cultural or spiritual concerns, as well as provision for death and care after death.
B次元官网网址淲e hope to open up the space for people in our province to begin talking more openly about whatB次元官网网址檚 coming down the road for them,B次元官网网址� she said.
B次元官网网址淚f we could get people actually doing advanced care planning, actually sitting down with their parents or children and saying these are the kinds of things that IB次元官网网址檓 thinking about ... weB次元官网网址檇 be so much further along in getting people to have (better) deaths then we are right now.B次元官网网址�
Researchers from health authorities across the province have partnered with the Ministry of Health for iPANEL, funded by an $800,000 Michael Smith B.C. Nursing Research Initiative Team Award.
B次元官网网址淭his is of importance to everybody. If you havenB次元官网网址檛 known anyone whoB次元官网网址檚 died, you will. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a certain thing in life.B次元官网网址�
