Premium
Dying at home: community nurses' views on the impact of informal carers on cancer patients' place of death
Author(s) -
JACK B.,
O'BRIEN M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2354.2009.01103.x
Subject(s) - medicine , thematic analysis , palliative care , focus group , nursing , government (linguistics) , psychological intervention , qualitative research , place of death , family medicine , population , marketing , sociology , business , social science , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health
JACK B. & O'BRIEN M. (2010) European Journal of Cancer Care 19 , 636–642 Dying at home: community nurses' views on the impact of informal carers on cancer patients' place of death Giving patients with cancer a choice in where they want to die including the choice to die at home if they so wish, underpin the recent UK government policies and is embedded in the End of Life Care Programme. However, this presents increasing challenges for the informal carers particularly with an increasingly aging population. Despite the policy initiatives, there remain a persistent number of patients with cancer who had chosen to die at home being admitted to hospital in the last days and hours of life. A qualitative study using two focus group interviews with community nurses (district nurses and community specialist palliative care nurses) was undertaken across two primary care trusts in the north‐west of England. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The results indicated that informal carer burden was a key reason for prompting hospital admission. Recommendations for the development of a carer assessment tool with appropriate supportive interventions are made.