Faculty-Student Collaborative Project: Experienced Nurse Perspectives about Palliative and End-of-Life Care and Communication

Schuster, Gabriele

Monday, July 11, 2011

Gabriele Schuster¹
Verna L. Hendricks-Ferguson, PhD, RN¹
Claretta Y. Dupree, PhD, RN, ANP²
Kathleen J. Sawin, PhD, CPNP-PC, FAAN³
Kitty Montgomery, MS, RN, PCNS-BC, CPHON⁴
Joan E. Haase, RN, PhD, FAAN⁵
(1)Goldfarb School of Nursing, Barnes-Jewish College, St. Louis, MO
(2)ITT Technical Institute, High Point, NC
(3)College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
(4)Hematology/Oncology/Transplant Unit, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
(5)School of Nursing, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN

Learning Objective 1: To describe the procedures of Colaizzi’s method of empirical phenomenology that were used to analyze focus group data for this study.

Learning Objective 2: To describe preliminary findings on perspectives of experienced pediatric oncology nurses about palliative and end-of-life care communication with parents of children with cancer.

Background: Pediatric oncology nurses are at the forefront of opportunities to communicate with parents and children with cancer receiving palliative and end-of-life (PC/EOL) care. It is imperative that these nurses are comfortable and competent in communicating PC/EOL information to family members of children with cancer and a poor prognosis. Research focused on the staff nurses' clinical challenges to provide supportive care to a dying child and their family members is needed. Furthermore, there is a lack of research focused on experienced staff nurses’ perspectives of factors and barriers that may influence difficult discussions about palliative and end-of-life care with parents of a child with cancer with a poor prognosis. .

Objective: An undergraduate nursing student project designed for the student to work closely with a senior nurse researcher to gain experience in: (a) analyzing focus group data using Colaizzi’s method of empirical phenomenology and (b) describing nurse managers' perceptions of clinical practice needs of staff nurses related to factors that facilitate and impede PC/EOL communication with dying children, their families, and health care providers.

Methods: The data set was obtained from one focus group of pediatric oncology nurses with more than five years of clinical experience caring for children with cancer. Colaizzi's method of empirical phenomenology and Group-as-a-Whole Theory was used to guide the analysis of the data set.

Results: Data analysis is currently in progress. Preliminary data analysis should provide evidence of the PC/EOL communication needs of pediatric oncology nurses with more than five years of experience.

Conclusion: The results of this study will provide pilot data to help plan a larger multi-centered communication intervention to equip staff nurses with evidence-based practice PC/EOL communication strategies.

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