Resthaven Presentation at Palliative Care Conference
Peter Jenkin, Resthaven’s award winning Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner (PNCP), is among the presenters at this year’s Australian Palliative Care Conference 2017 from 6–8 September 2017.
Themed ‘Connection with Community’, the conference, for palliative care professionals, clinical staff, students and carers, will be held in Adelaide at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Peter’s presentation is titled “Being ‘in-house’ matters”. Outcomes from a study evaluating having a palliative care nurse practitioner employed in residential aged care services.” It is based on a study of the impact his role has had on Resthaven residents, and their families since he was employed in the role in 2013.
‘The findings of the study have proven to be very positive reading’, says Tina Cooper, Executive Manager Residential Services.
‘The retrospective review highlights the influence Peter’s role, together with the continuous improvements made to Resthaven’s processes has had on clinical practices, and the many people he has helped to gain positive outcomes in their end of life care. It is impressive.’
The review, undertaken earlier this year, identified several clinical practice improvement initiatives, including: prospective clinical audit of all deceased resident files; introduction of the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT); and three key clinical processes essential for implementing a palliative approach—Advance Care Planning (ACP), Palliative Care Case Conferences (PCCC) and End of Life Care Pathway (EoLCP).
‘Most importantly, the clinical improvements have ensured not only an increase to the number of older people referred to Peter, but much improved capacity of all staff involved in this important area across Resthaven generally’,
Significant improvements to other outcomes include: fewer unnecessary transfers to hospital in the last week of life; increased utilisation of the PCCC and EoLCP tools by staff; improved staff confidence in providing palliative and end of life care; and high rates of satisfaction by GPs of the PCNP’s clinical expertise and communication/consultation processes.
‘The study showcases the demonstrated multiple outcome improvements from having an ‘in-house’ PCNP to provide direct clinical care and support.’
‘I am proud that Peter will be presenting these findings to the Palliative Care community that showcase the value of a PNCP who is able to deliver direct care and support.’
Peter won the Employee Award at the 2017 Aged and Community Services SA & NT Awards for Excellence in June this year.