What are the experiences and decision-making processes of residential aged care facility nurses when sending elderly residents to rural or remote emergency departments for palliative care issues?

Description

Aims and objectives: This article explores the experiences and decision-making processes of residential aged care facility nurses in New South Wales, Australia, when sending elderly residents to rural or remote emergency departments for palliative care issues.
Background: Residential aged care facilities become “home” for those people who are unable to live at home in the last years of their lives. Most residents express a wish to die in their “home”. Unfortunately, research indicates that transfers from the residential aged care facility to a nearby emergency department are common for patients requiring assistance with palliative care issues.
Design: This paper reports on an interpretive, qualitative study with data collected through […] semi-structured interviews.
Method: Residential aged care facility nurses who have worked within the last three years in rural and remote New South Wales were invited to be interviewed through an online advertisement. The nurses needed to have been involved in the transfer of a resident to a nearby rural or remote emergency department for palliative issues. A thematic analysis of the interviews was then conducted.
Results: Six themes emerged from the interpretative analysis of the interviews. These were: the newness of RACF staff, the need for advocacy for palliative RACF residents, the impact of and insistence of family in decision-making processes, the importance of skilled and permanent staff in rural and remote communities, the impact of the media on RACF care provision, and the idea of the RACF as a well-resourced and appropriate place to die theme.
Conclusions: [… ]

Period	2022 → …
Examinee	Mel Hanson
Examination held at	Charles Sturt University
Degree of Recognition	National