From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care
Abstract Background Palliative care requires a multidisciplinary team to assist patients and their families to obtain good quality care at the end of life. Typically, community pharmacists have fewer opportunities to provide services for patients with palliative care needs than hospital pharmacists....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | BMC Palliative Care |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-023-01332-z |
| _version_ | 1797362812961423360 |
|---|---|
| author | Chien-Yi Wu Yu-Hsuan Wu Yi-Hui Chang Min-Shiow Tsay Hung-Cheng Chen Yu-Ling Kuo Hui-Ya Hsieh |
| author_facet | Chien-Yi Wu Yu-Hsuan Wu Yi-Hui Chang Min-Shiow Tsay Hung-Cheng Chen Yu-Ling Kuo Hui-Ya Hsieh |
| author_sort | Chien-Yi Wu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Palliative care requires a multidisciplinary team to assist patients and their families to obtain good quality care at the end of life. Typically, community pharmacists have fewer opportunities to provide services for patients with palliative care needs than hospital pharmacists. Moreover, home-based palliative care (HBPC) by pharmacists remains low and there is a lack of research regarding HBPC provided by pharmacists. Therefore, this study sought to understand the views and reflections of community pharmacists in the clinical frontline providing palliative home services. Methods Purposive sampling was used to recruit six community pharmacists for one-on-one, in-depth, semi-structured interviews and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Five major themes emerged: [1] Engagement, [2] Challenge, [3] Mission, [4] Career metamorphosis, and [5] Outlook. The pharmacists described how they engaged in HBPC and faced the challenges. They regarded opioid management as a burden. Moreover, some mentioned that reimbursement for palliative home care is low or non-profitable. They suggested building a platform to exchange advice and legislation adjustments so that they could pass on their experiences to less experienced pharmacists in HBPC. Conclusions The involvement of pharmacists is crucial to provide better palliative care. Although the present study was small and might not fully represent the whole situation, the findings could still inform future education, training, and policy planning to promote pharmacists’ participation in palliative care to generalise community palliative care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:11:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-de3850cb16c74aac895a356779f8d256 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-684X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T16:11:51Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Palliative Care |
| spelling | doaj.art-de3850cb16c74aac895a356779f8d2562024-01-07T12:54:04ZengBMCBMC Palliative Care1472-684X2024-01-0123111210.1186/s12904-023-01332-zFrom comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative careChien-Yi Wu0Yu-Hsuan Wu1Yi-Hui Chang2Min-Shiow Tsay3Hung-Cheng Chen4Yu-Ling Kuo5Hui-Ya Hsieh6Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityDepartment of Specialist Nurse and Surgical Nurse Practitioner Office, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical UniversityAbstract Background Palliative care requires a multidisciplinary team to assist patients and their families to obtain good quality care at the end of life. Typically, community pharmacists have fewer opportunities to provide services for patients with palliative care needs than hospital pharmacists. Moreover, home-based palliative care (HBPC) by pharmacists remains low and there is a lack of research regarding HBPC provided by pharmacists. Therefore, this study sought to understand the views and reflections of community pharmacists in the clinical frontline providing palliative home services. Methods Purposive sampling was used to recruit six community pharmacists for one-on-one, in-depth, semi-structured interviews and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Five major themes emerged: [1] Engagement, [2] Challenge, [3] Mission, [4] Career metamorphosis, and [5] Outlook. The pharmacists described how they engaged in HBPC and faced the challenges. They regarded opioid management as a burden. Moreover, some mentioned that reimbursement for palliative home care is low or non-profitable. They suggested building a platform to exchange advice and legislation adjustments so that they could pass on their experiences to less experienced pharmacists in HBPC. Conclusions The involvement of pharmacists is crucial to provide better palliative care. Although the present study was small and might not fully represent the whole situation, the findings could still inform future education, training, and policy planning to promote pharmacists’ participation in palliative care to generalise community palliative care.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-023-01332-zCommunity pharmacistHome carePalliative careOpioidQualitative research |
| spellingShingle | Chien-Yi Wu Yu-Hsuan Wu Yi-Hui Chang Min-Shiow Tsay Hung-Cheng Chen Yu-Ling Kuo Hui-Ya Hsieh From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care BMC Palliative Care Community pharmacist Home care Palliative care Opioid Qualitative research |
| title | From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care |
| title_full | From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care |
| title_fullStr | From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care |
| title_full_unstemmed | From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care |
| title_short | From comfort zone to front-line care: perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home-based palliative care |
| title_sort | from comfort zone to front line care perspectives and reflections of community pharmacists entering home based palliative care |
| topic | Community pharmacist Home care Palliative care Opioid Qualitative research |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-023-01332-z |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chienyiwu fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT yuhsuanwu fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT yihuichang fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT minshiowtsay fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT hungchengchen fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT yulingkuo fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare AT huiyahsieh fromcomfortzonetofrontlinecareperspectivesandreflectionsofcommunitypharmacistsenteringhomebasedpalliativecare |