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Aims and objectives: To explore the advantages and disadvantages of using video consultations, as experienced by specialised palliative care healthcare professionals, who are involved in palliative care at home. Background: One challenge in the work of specialised palliative care teams is the substantial resources used in terms of time and transport to and from the patient's home. Video consultations may be a solution for real‐time specialised palliative home care. Designs: Hermeneutic, postphenomenology. Methods: An explorative qualitative study utilising data from field notes of an autobiographical diary, participant observations and semi‐structured interviews with healthcare professionals. The COREQ guideline was used for reporting the study. See Appendix S1. The data collection took place in patients' homes and at the Department of Oncology, Odense University Hospital, Denmark. Results: Eight participants (n = 8); five community nurses; and three specialised palliative care team members—a head physician, a physiotherapist and a nurse—participated in the study. The healthcare professionals' knowledge was based on n = 82 video consultations with 11 patients. The range of video consultations was 3–18 per patient. The use of tablets in video consultations facilitated direct palliative care and led the community nurses and the specialised palliative care team nurse to co‐operate. Potential barriers against using video consultations are the discussions about personal, and private issues regarding the illness, while family members are present. Conclusions: Video consultations in specialised palliative home care are feasible, and the technology can facilitate multidisciplinary participation and co‐operation among healthcare professionals. The continuous use of video consultations over time may increase the quality of specialised palliative home care. Relevance to clinical practice: The use of video consultations can provide direct specialised palliative care over distance involving healthcare professionals, patients and their relatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To explore the structure and content of narratives about the recovery process among patients undergoing heart valve surgery participating in cardiac rehabilitation. Background Several studies with short-term follow-up have shown that recovering from cardiac surgery can be challenging, but evidence on the long-term recovery process is very limited, especially following heart valve surgery. Furthermore, few studies have explored the recovery process among cardiac rehabilitation participants. Design A qualitative study with serial interviews analysed using narrative methods. Methods We collected data over 18 months (April 2013-October 2014). We recruited nine patients undergoing heart valve surgery from a randomized trial, CopenHeart VR and conducted 27 individual narrative interviews at 2-3 weeks, 3-4 months and 8-9 months after surgery. Findings Following heart valve surgery, the participants expected to return to normality. The analysis identified four courses of recovery, with three non-linear complex pathways deviating from the classic restitution narrative: the frustrated struggle to resume normality, the challenged expectation of normality - being in a limbo and becoming a heart patient. These deviating pathways were characterized by physical, existential and mental challenges even up to 9 months after surgery. Conclusion The recovery processes of participants' in cardiac rehabilitation were often more complicated than anticipated. Patients undergoing heart valve surgery may benefit from more extensive medical follow-up immediately after discharge, individual psychological assessment and individualized, realistic information about the recovery trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]