Health Professionals Perceived Concerns and Challenges in Providing Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Qualitative Analysis:

Background:The Institute of Medicine identifies that quality palliative/end-of-life (EOL) care should be provided to patients with serious, life-limiting illnesses and their families by competently prepared health professionals.Purpose:This study assessed perceived concerns of health professionals pertaining to the delivery of palliative/EOL care in the hospital setting. The specific aim was to determine thematic concerns in the delivery of palliative/EOL care which emerged from respondents’ impressions of a memorable palliative/EOL patient experience.Methods:Interdisciplinary health professionals at a large academic health system in the Midwest were surveyed to reflect upon a memorable palliative/EOL life care patient situation (positive or negative). A Thematic Analysis approach was used to code qualitative responses to 4 open-ended questions and then extract themes and subthemes from the coded data.Results:Concerns identified by participants (N = 425) emerged around 7 themes including communication (97...