Palliative care by nurses in rural and remote practice

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the experiences of a group of rural and remote nurses in providing palliative care and to discuss the implications of this evaluation for the development and implementation of professional support strategies. Design: Semi-structured survey comprising 23 items measuring perceptions of the nature of rural and remote practice, the provision of palliative care in these settings and the appropriateness of various professional development strategies; as well as 12 open-ended questions to obtain qualitative descriptions relating to key concepts in rural and remote practice. Setting: Rural and remote communities in the Southern zone of Queensland Health. Subjects: Thirty-one registered and enrolled nurses, all female, who attended a two-day professional development workshop. Main outcome measures: Identification of characteristics of, barriers against and strategies to support the practice of palliative care in rural and remote communities. Results: High levels of agreement with key statements relating to issues evident in contemporary literature regarding rural and remote nursing practice; qualitative descriptions show congruence with key statements. Conclusions: This evaluation demonstrated congruence between the challenges faced by this group of nurses and those reported in the literature. These nurses identified the importance of peer networking as an integral part of their work, which enhanced their potential as rural and remote palliative care providers.