Quality improvement priorities for safer out-of-hours palliative care: Lessons from a mixed-methods analysis of a national incident-reporting database

Jan 7, 2019

This episode features Dr Huw Williams ( Cardiff University, UK)

Around 2% –3 % of consultations in primary care are prone to patient safety incidents. Patients receiving palliative care are not immune to patient safety concerns. ‘Out-of-hours’ services are responsible for providing care for two-thirds of the working week (18:30 to 08:00 on weekdays, and all hours at weekends in the United Kingdom). Target patient safety issues for improving palliative care in the out-of-hours setting include medication provision, timely access to care and non-medication treatments such as catheter care and information transfer between providers. Harm outcomes commonly include pain, emotional distress, unnecessary hospital admission, and hastened death. Interventions to address frequently identified sources of harm are presented and should be evaluated robustly in future implementation studies.
 
Full paper available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269216318817692

 
If you would like to record a podcast about your published (or accepted) Palliative Medicine paper, please contact Dr Amara Nwosu: [e-mail]