End of Life Care, It’s a Journey

Abstract

Abstract Background The Hospice Friendly Hospital (HFH) approach was adopted by an urban academic hospital in 2010 which involved the roll out of the Final Journeys Workshops. in 2019 a review of nursing and healthcare attendant’s (HCA) education and training within geriatric department, alongside patient feedback, identified the need for greater focus to be made on End-of-Life Care. In 2022, it was then decided by the department’s Assistant Director of Nursing that the Final Journeys Workshops was a mandatory requirement for the nursing and HCA staff working in the geriatric inpatient areas. Methods Results Workshops are ongoing with nine having been completed so far. As of April 2024, 34 HCA’s and 70 nurses have now completed the workshop within the directorate. Oral feedback received from the 2023’s attendees highlighted the need for a more interprofessional approach so it was decided that the workshop would be offered to all staff who are working in older person’s services from 2024. Since then, 8 members of staff outside nursing and HCA roles attended the workshop. This had a positive impact on the learning experience but also solidifies that much needed multi-disciplinary approach to EOLC. Conclusion At the end of each session, attendees were asked to complete an evaluation. Post reviewing these evaluations the following themes emerged: By having our geriatric directorate facilitators, we can create more awareness surrounding the culture and practices of EOLC for the older person thus improve the quality of EOLC within the directorate in line with HFH approach.