Experience of patient death and subsequent bereavement by members of the oncology team in the outpatient setting.

Abstract

244 Background: Working with cancer patients is considered inherently stressful with high levels of burnout reported. There is limited research that focuses on the multidisciplinary team as a whole; research to date tends to focus on patient death from the perspective of the bedside oncology nurse, the physician or social worker. With the focus on those disciplines individually, thereby ignoring the centrality of the multidisciplinary nature of oncology care and excluding fundamental team members who provide care and are potentially impacted by the death of the patient. What is evident in current research is that long term meaningful relationships are developed between members of the multidisciplinary team and patients, with the consequences and implications of unresolved or unacknowledged grief being well documented as burnout and compassion fatigue. It is suggested that better support, acknowledgement of patient death and grief has implications for individual staff wellbeing, for staff training, support and the healthcare system, all of which have impact on the quality of patient care, improve retention, decrease burnout and compassion fatigue. The aim of this research is to explore the experience of death and subsequent bereavement from the perspective of those healthcare professionals who provide direct patient care at an outpatient oncology clinic. Methods: A qualitative study using a phenomenological approach was conducted to explore multidisciplinary team members experiencing regarding patient death and subsequent bereavement in the outpatient oncology setting. Individual interviews were conducted with 11 members of staff from 5 oncology teams based in the outpatient clinic of a magnet designated hospital. Results: Qualitative analysis yielded the following themes: insight, mortality, relationships, communication, grieving and bereavement, training and education, support and coping. Conclusions: To understand how patient death affects team members who provide patient care and support mechanisms used. Participants identified a need for acknowledging patient death in the work environment and had multiple suggestions for creating a supportive environment.