Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan MY(1), Shek CC(1), Kwong T(1), Lee M(1), Liu HL(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Bereavement was a key component of the continuum of palliative and end-of-life care. Neonatal palliative care was an approach by which nurses supported both dying neonates and families to improve quality of life. Neonatal palliative care was important, but formal framework and education on palliative and bereavement care was lacking in our unit. Nurses were stressful at help the bereaved family due to limited exposure on bereavement training.
Objectives :
To update the current bereavement service guideline in NICU, and to evaluate nurses’ comfortability and competency on bereavement service by providing bereavement education.
Methodology :
The project was conducted in NICU, PMH by a cross-sectional and quasi experimental design with the use of one-group pre- and post- questionnaire methodology. Nurses were eligible to participant in it from December 2017 to January 2018. Nurses drawn from convenience sampling attended the education seminars of updated bereavement service and workflow. By using self-reported pre- and post- questionnaire, the effect of updated bereavement guideline and bereavement seminar on their comfort and involvement were evaluated.
Result & Outcome :
Total 40 nurses attended educational seminars with 100% responding rate of pre- and post- questionnaire. Most nurses had no experience on bereavement care (n=19, 47.5%). All nurses agreed bereavement care was important for intensive care nursing. In pre-questionnaire, most nurses were uncomfortable and unfamiliar in providing bereavement care (disagree, n=32, 80%; strongly disagree, n=5, 12.5%). After the education seminars, all nurses agreed they had obtained updated information and understood workflow of bereavement service. Most nurses stated they were more comfortable in providing bereavement care based on the framework of end-of-life care. From the feedback of nurses, they suggested to include training on communication skills between healthcare workers and parents, case sharing, neonatal simulated bereavement workshops to enhance their bereavement care. Conclusion: Nurses played an important role in providing bereavement care and support to dying infants and families. Ongoing updated bereavement information and education could enhance nurses’ confidence in delivering bereavement service.
