2004 OPEN FORUM Abstracts
NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY REGARDING END-OF-LIFE TRAINING FOR RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTITIONERS.
Barry B. Winn Ed.D.,
Henri Colt MD., Stephan Colt MD., UCSD Medical Center San Diego CA.
Background: There
remains a perception
that end-of-life care should be a function of hospice services and a
specially-trained group of allied health-care providers such as
social workers and nurses. We believe that Respiratory Therapists
also have the time, skills, and desire to effectively deal with the
emotional, spiritual, economic, medical, and social issues of the
chronically or terminally ill. Our hypothesis is that Respiratory
Therapists are not performing to their full potential when facing
dying patients and their families. The objectives of this study was
to (1) to identify current roles of Respiratory Therapists in
end-of-life care, (2) to identify gaps in education, and (3) to
identify therapists’ desire and perception about participation
in end-of-life care. Method: This
was achieved through the development and dissemination of a written,
survey-based needs of Hospital and community-based Respiratory
Therapists and Respiratory Therapy students in
San Diego
County. An optical mark-read (bubble-type) non chad survey was
utilized. It was comprised of the Hoag Memorial Hospital survey
instrument with specific modifications and additional
questions
pertaining only to Respiratory Therapists. In addition, structured
oral interviews were conducted with three regional experts in
end-of-life care including representatives from medical,
hospice
and patient advocacy organizations.
Results: There were 561
Surveys were mailed to 16 Hospitals and a total of 199 Surveys were
returned from 12 hospitals.
Discussion: The responses from the
surveys were tabulated. The responses regarding the “needs
assessment” are:
| QUESTION | PERCENT OF TOTAL |
| Do you think that respiratory care practitioners should be a part of a multidisciplinary team devoted to end-of-life care? | Yes (79%) No (21 %) |
| Do you think that respiratory therapists could play an important role in counseling and educating terminally ill patients or their family members? | Yes (74%) No (26% ) |
| Do you find there is a growing need for you to participate in “end-of life” patient care activities? | Yes (62%) No (38 %) |
| Do you have a desire to participate in “end –of-life” patient care? | Yes (51%) No (49 %) |
| Do you feel you have an adequate formal education to be an effective team member in “end-of-life” care? | Yes (37%) No (63 %) |
Conclusions:
The results suggest that a majority of the respondents indicate
that Respiratory Care Practitioners should have a formal role in
End-of-Life care. In view of these results, the data also suggests
that there appears to be a need for a formal education program
directed towards Respiratory Care Practitioners who work with
critically ill patients.