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Exploring the role of PSW's in end-of-life care for long-term care residents
from Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing Research Report 2020-2022
by Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Bloomberg Nursing PhD candidate Danielle Just received a grant from The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care (GIPPEC) at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, to support her doctoral research project exploring the role of personal support workers (PSWs) in end-of-life care in long-term care (LTC).
The goal of the project, which includes a virtual case study conducted in an Ontario LTC home, is to improve the quality of end-of-life care for LTC residents. While PSW’s remain an unregulated profession globally, Just’s study seeks to enhance knowledge about the role of PSWs in end-of-life care and inform future studies seeking to develop policies for education or clinical practice guidelines.
“Poor quality end-of-life care in LTC homes is a critical issue for Canada’s LTC system, this crisis has been further amplified by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and needs to be addressed,” says Just, who is completing her doctoral work under the supervision of Associate Professor Lisa Cranley. PSWs provide most of the daily care for LTC residents including end-of-life care.
Just’s study will mark one of the first times to their knowledge, that PSW’s and LTC residents and family caregivers will be able to share their perspectives on the evolving role of PSWs in end-of-life care.
With the support of the GIPPEC grant, Just has been able to disseminate the results of her virtual case study and initial findings at two national conferences where she has had the opportunity to share the perspectives of multiple stakeholders on PSWs’ invaluable role in end-of-life care in LTC.
“End-of-life care requires an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to provide high-quality care to residents in LTC,” says Just. “It makes sense that to improve care, our research must also include an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach. I’m grateful to work with an expert team of interdisciplinary Canadian researchers on this project.”
