Dimensions of good palliative nursing care: Expert panel consensus and perceptions of palliative professionals.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To analyse the dimensions of quality of palliative nursing care and to explore the perceptions of professionals for the development and validation of the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale. BACKGROUND: The study of palliative nursing care quality has been approached from analysis of the competencies of palliative care nurses, based on various theoretical models. However, there are fewer qualitative empirical studies that have evaluated what good palliative nursing care is and what its dimensions are. DESIGN: Mixed-method, Delphi approach and exploratory qualitative study. METHODS: Consensus by a panel of experts using the Delphi technique and semi-structured interviews. The study was reported in a comprehensive manner following COREQ criteria. Data collection took place between January and June 2018. RESULTS: The eight-person expert panel reached consensus on the following dimensions of the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale: control and relief of symptoms, family and/or primary caregiver, therapeutic relationship, spiritual support and continuity of care. Thematic analysis of ten interviews identified four emergent themes related to good nursing care: (1) the patient and family as a whole; (2) finding meaning; (3) responsible communication; and (4) caring for the human element. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of palliative nursing care goes beyond providing comprehensive care; it means meticulously looking after every detail of what is important to the patient. The expectations of professionals are not as important. Instead, care should be based primarily on the needs and respect for the wishes of the patient and their family. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Specifying the quality of nursing care in routine practice and reaching a consensus on its dimensions means moving towards excellence in care, as well as improving the professional profile of advanced practice palliative care nurses. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Two primary caregivers participated in the panel of experts and the semi-structured interview.

Quality of palliative nursing care: Meaning, death anxiety, and the mediating role of well-being.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing concern regarding the quality of palliative nursing care. However, despite the growing number of studies identifying related variables, there is still a paucity of studies analyzing models of how these variables interrelate. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to identify the role played in the quality of palliative care of nursing professionals by the variables meaning and death anxiety and to investigate the mediating role of psychological well-being and engagement. METHOD: 176 palliative nursing professionals participated, selected by non-probabilistic convenience sampling using the snowball method. A simple mediation analysis and a multiple mediator model were performed in parallel, and data were collected using a paper and online questionnaire between January and May 2018. RESULTS: Well-being mediated the impact of meaning (indirect effect = 0.096, SE = 0.044, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.028, 0.213) and death anxiety (indirect effect = -0.032, SE = 0.013, 95% CI: -0.064, -0.010) on the quality of care. Engagement, on the other hand, only mediated the impact of meaning (indirect effect = 0.185, SE = 0.085, 95% CI: 0.035, 0.372), while the indirect effect of death anxiety with the quality of care through engagement was not statistically significant (indirect effect = 0.008, SE = 0.009, 95% CI: -0.004, 0.032). SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Death anxiety is not directly related to the quality of care, but rather has an effect through psychological well-being, a variable acting as a mediator between the two. The effect of meaning on the quality of care is explained by the mediation of both engagement and psychological well-being, and its impact on the quality of care is thereby mediated by more variables than death anxiety.

Good palliative nursing care: Design and validation of the palliative nursing care quality scale (PNCQS).

AIMS: Develop and psychometrically assess the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale (PNCQS, escala de Calidad del Cuidado Enfermero Paliativo, CCEP, in Spanish). An interview-based qualitative study (1) was conducted to verify construct validity evidence, with psychometric properties of reliability and validity verified by two quantitative studies (2 & 3). DESIGN: Quantitative instrumental, correlational, and cross-sectional study. METHODS: Study 1 was carried out with 10 key informants. For Study 2, a sample of 103 nursing professionals was obtained and 176 nurses from palliative care resources in Spain participated in Study 3. Data were collected between May 2017 - May 2018. RESULTS: Evidence of adequate reliability (internal consistency) and validity was found. The confirmatory factor model yielded a single latent factor for the 20 items, with adequate goodness-of-fit indices. The convergent validity data showed that the highest correlations were with the Dedication subscale of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Personal Growth subscale of Psychological Well-being, with values of 0.35 and 0.34, respectively (p < 0.01 in both cases). CONCLUSION: The scale shows good psychometric properties, with high internal consistency and evidence of internal and convergent validity. IMPACT: Proposing a valuable instrument which identifies good nursing in different areas of palliative care while also establishing quality indicators to guide nursing practice entails the recognition of autonomy in care. The resulting work tool can be used to systematize the assessment of nursing care in a process of open and continuous improvement.