The challenges of working in palliative care during a pandemic
25th March 2022
The CovPall team has been analysing how working in a pandemic has affected palliative care health professionals. They interviewed staff providing specialist palliative services between November 2020 and April 2021 to explore their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that infection control constraints affected staff’s ability to provide care that reflected their core values. This led to moral distress and continually managing this led to an accumulation of distress, sometimes leading to burnout. Support from colleagues, and feeling they were making a valued contribution, provided moral comfort for some.
As palliative care professionals used to dealing with death and dying, palliative care staff may have been less affected by the COVID 19 pandemic. Nevertheless palliative care professionals have been confronted with challenges outside their normal comfort zone that have affected their ability to provide care in accordance with their professional values. For example infection control procedures in hospitals and hospices impacted on how they were able to care for dying patients, when family visits were restricted or prohibited. Restrictions also impacted staff’s ability to visit patients at home and led to feeling that care was compromised. Social distancing and staff shortages also led to staff feeling unable to deliver their usual standard of care. Sensitive conversations such as breaking bad news were carried out remotely, and visiting restrictions led to family disagreements which proved challenging.
This research into the effect of the pandemic on the wellbeing of palliative care healthcare professionals, and how organisations responded to this challenge has implications for healthcare systems generally, giving an insight into how healthcare staff and organisations can be better supported. The researchers conclude that organisational, structural and policy changes are urgently required to ensure quality of care and retention of staff.
Bradshaw A, Dunleavy L, Garner I, Preston N, Bajwah S, Cripps R, Fraser LK, Maddocks M, Hocaoglu M, Murtagh FEM, Oluyase AO, Sleeman KE, Higginson IJ, Walshe C on behalf of the CovPall study team. Experiences of staff providing specialist palliative care during COVID-19: a multiple qualitative case study. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine; 0(0) 1-11 https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768221077366