Challenges Experienced by Italian Nursing Home Staff in End-of-Life Conversations with Family Caregivers during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

ABSTRACT: End-of-life conversations are among the most challenging of all communication scenarios and on the agenda of several healthcare settings, including nursing homes (NHs). They may be also difficult for experienced healthcare professionals (HCPs). This study explores the difficulties experienced by Italian NH staff in end-of-life conversations with family caregivers (FCs) during COVID-19 pandemic to uncover their educational needs. A qualitative descriptive study based on inductive thematic analysis was performed. Twenty-one HCPs across six Italian NHs were interviewed. Four themes described their experiences of end-of-life conversations: (1) communicating with FCs over the overall disease trajectory; (2) managing challenging emotions and situations; (3) establishing a partnership between HCP

SUBMITTER: Gonella S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8909457 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature