Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

Abstract

There are numerous reasons conversations regarding the early implementation of palliative care for patients diagnosed with life-limiting illness do not occur early in the disease trajectory. A literature search was conducted to support the benefits of earlier implementation of palliative care, specifically, implementation by patient’s primary care providers upon a qualifying disease diagnosis. The literature review revealed generous benefits of early implementation of palliative care and provided support for this scholarly project. For this scholarly project, a palliative care questionnaire and PowerPoint presentation were designed, administered, and presented to health care providers including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and consultants who work in palliative care. The group was engaged in discussion/dialogue regarding the barriers to offering palliative care to patients who would benefit. The barriers include that many primary care providers are not comfortable initiating the conversation about palliative care, feel under-educated about the topic of palliative care, and do not want to take hope away from the patient by starting a conversation about palliative care. Information gathered from the questionnaire was used to create an educational pamphlet about which diseases qualify a patient for palliative care, why and how to have the conversation about palliative care, and resources available to further knowledge on the topic of palliative care. The goal of the scholarly project is to help primary care providers facilitate conversations, initiation, and the use of palliative care as part of the collaborative care team in patient care.

Identifier

SC11.DNP.2018.Rivers.JM

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