ABSTRACT
Increasing rates of chronic diseases and an aging population have placed palliative care at the forefront of public health efforts. The major goal of palliative care is to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families or caregivers. To reduce barriers and improve palliative care, the From Advance Care Planning Toward Palliative Care coalition was first formed in South Dakota in 2017. It comprises an interprofessional, multi-institutional group of health care professionals who aim to promote palliative care through education, research, and advocacy. The project's purpose was to increase awareness and knowledge of best palliative care practices and to improve access to resources and networking among stakeholders. In 2021 and 2022, the coalition implemented the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes model. The objective was to provide a centralized structure for distant providers to obtain mentoring in palliative care through case-based learning according to a standardized communication and mentoring strategy, thereby increasing access to palliative care networking opportunities in rural and underserved regions.
Subject(s)
Mentoring , Palliative Care , Humans , Mentoring/methods , Mentoring/statistics & numerical data , Mentoring/standards , Palliative Care/methods , Palliative Care/standards , Palliative Care/statistics & numerical data , South Dakota , Community Health Services/methods , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/statistics & numerical data , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/methodsABSTRACT
The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate a statewide initiative promoting Advance Care Planning (ACP) to educate and support multidisciplinary ACP educators and provide tools to start ACP conversations in a predominantly rural state of the Upper Midwest. Individual objectives were to (1) motivate people of different professions and backgrounds to support the vision and (2) implement a system to educate and maintain a pipeline of ACP educators in appropriate methodologies to enable ACP in distant communities. The Advance Care Planning: Quality Conversations coalition was formed in 2015 to improve health care across the life span. The Reach-Effectiveness-Adoption-Implementation-Maintenance framework was applied to evaluate the project. Outcome variables were measured before, during, and after program implementation through service statistics and a questionnaire. Participation in the coalition's membership team between September 2015 and September 2019 ranged from 18 to 36 with a median of 27 and mode of 27. At least 20 different professions were represented. The coalition provided funds for educating 9 ACP instructors and 180 facilitators according to the Respecting Choices-First Steps ACP program. The coalition's mission has generated sustained interest for 4 years. Key elements and obstacles to implementing a statewide coalition were identified.