Emergency department staff priorities for improving palliative care provision for older people: A qualitative study:

Background:Emergency department–based palliative care services are increasing, but research to develop these services rarely includes input from emergency clinicians, jeopardizing the effectiveness of subsequent palliative care interventions.Aim:To collaboratively identify with emergency clinicians’ improvement priorities for emergency department–based palliative care for older people.Design:This was one component of an experience-based co-design project, conducted using semi-structured interviews and feedback sessions.Setting/participants:In-depth interviews with 15 emergency clinicians (nurses and doctors) at a large teaching hospital emergency department in the United Kingdom exploring experiences of palliative care delivery for older people. A thematic analysis identified core challenges that were presented to 64 clinicians over five feedback sessions, validating interview findings, and identifying shared priorities for improving palliative care delivery.Results:Eight challenges emerged: patient age; ...