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Provision of palliative and end-of-life care in New Zealand residential aged care facilities: general practitioners' perspectives

Authors :
Jackie Robinson
Michal Boyd
Merryn Gott
Deborah Balmer
Rosemary Frey
Source :
Australian journal of primary health. 26(2)
Publication Year :
2019

Abstract

This exploratory study examined general practitioners’ (GPs) perspectives on delivering end-of-life care in the New Zealand residential aged care context. A general inductive approach to the data collected from semi-structured interviews with 17 GPs from 15 different New Zealand general practices was taken. Findings examine: (1) GPs’ life experience; (2) the GP relationship with the facilities and provision of end-of-life care; (3) the GP interaction with families of dying residents; and (4) GP relationship with hospice. The nature of the GP relationship with the facility influenced GP involvement in end-of-life care in aged care facilities, with GPs not always able to direct a facility’s end-of-life care decisions for specific residents. GP participation in end-of-life care was constrained by GP time availability and the costs to the facilities for that time. GPs reported seldom using hospice services for residents, but did use the reputation (cachet) associated with hospice practices to provide an authoritative buffer for their end-of-life clinical decisions when talking with families and residents. GP training in end-of-life care, especially for those with dementia, was reported as ad hoc and done through informal mentoring between GPs.

Details

ISSN :
18367399
Volume :
26
Issue :
2
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Australian journal of primary health
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....51644b708424248f5854343f4c639a86