Journal of Geriatrics and Palliative Care
Research Article
An Initiative of a Nursing Home Outreach Counseling to Improving Palliative Care in Eastern of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Behrendt D*, Richter N and Sumngern C
Städtisches Klinikum Dessau, Auenweg 38, 06847 Dessau-Rosslau, Germany
*Address for Correspondence: Daniel Behrendt, Städtisches Klinikum Dessau, Auenweg 38, 06847 Dessau-Rosslau, Germany. E-mail: daniel.behrendt@klinikum-dessau.de
Submission: 19 September, 2023
Accepted: 10 October, 2023
Published: 13 October, 2023
Copyright: © 2023 Behrendt D, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Advance Care Planning; Case Management; Nursing Home; Outreach Counseling; Palliative Care
Abstract
Outreach programs have been usually designed to strengthen institutional services. Counseling plays an important role in palliative care for people with life-limiting conditions through building relationships between staff, patients, and families. This study aimed to initiate a nursing home outreach counseling in palliative care based on the combination of Case Management and Advance Care Planning concepts, and to pilot the implementation of developed nursing home outreach counseling for residents. Phase Model recommended by Peipe was applied for this development. Comprehensive palliative care, waiting time for initial counseling, and cost-benefits were evaluated. Descriptive and frequency statistics were used for data analysis. This article reports the initiative of nursing home outreach counseling in palliative care by two case managers at five nursing homes in the eastern Saxony-Anhalt. Multidiscipline collaboration played a crucial role in outreach counseling in palliative care for the residents.
There were three significant documents for outreach counseling in palliative care for nursing home residents:
(1) Palliative Care Pass
(2) PalliDoc® in palliative
(3) Counseling Performing Checklist.
The findings from initial small-scale study (n = 47), nursing home outreach counseling indicated the effectiveness on the comprehensive palliative care and also decreased waiting time for initial counseling services. The initial counseling service was provided for 59.6 % of the residents within three days and for 34 % between four to six days (n = 16, 34 %). This counseling did not greatly indicate the benefits of financial organizations.
(1) Palliative Care Pass
(2) PalliDoc® in palliative
(3) Counseling Performing Checklist.
The findings from initial small-scale study (n = 47), nursing home outreach counseling indicated the effectiveness on the comprehensive palliative care and also decreased waiting time for initial counseling services. The initial counseling service was provided for 59.6 % of the residents within three days and for 34 % between four to six days (n = 16, 34 %). This counseling did not greatly indicate the benefits of financial organizations.
Nursing home outreach counseling was beneficial in providing palliative care for the residents and families to meet the important aspects of death with dignity. This counseling model enhanced the ease of care management in palliative care for nursing home staff and decreased the affects of delayed receiving counseling. However, a larger confirmatory study is needed for further researches.