Abstract:
This project originates from my experience as a Palliative Care Nurse Specialist
Educator working from a hospice environment. Observations and collaborative
partnerships with staff in Aged Care Facilities provided insight into the palliative
care needs of the residents at the end-of-life. Care Assistants (caregivers)
provide the majority of direct care and spend most time with residents, with little
training for providing that care, to residents with increasingly complex needs.
A two phase exploratory descriptive project was designed using the life course
research paradigm and life story narrative research to consider what life
experience caregivers brought to their caregiving role in an Aged Care Facility
in New Zealand and what influence education had on their work life.
In the first phase a focus group, following education and the implementation of
the Liverpool Care Pathway, was conducted and themes identified from an
interdisciplinary staff team discussion. In phase two of the project four of the
caregivers participated in a life story interview. The thematic analysis of these
transcripts provided insight into the four caregivers' life experience. A novel
method termed poetic condensation was used in the study to identify the
essence of each person's life story. The researcher then reflected on each of
the four life stories and identified the turning point in the person's life and a
caring moment from the transcript.
The discussion in the thesis reveals the impact of the education sessions and
implementation of the Liverpool Care Pathway on the caregivers' practice and
how this became a turning point in the delivery of care for the elderly residents
particularly those who were dying in the Aged Care Facility.
The researcher concludes the thesis by recognizing that her role as a palliative
care clinical nurse specialist and educator is necessary to transfer specialist
end-of-life knowledge and mentor staff as they shape best end-of-life practice.
