‘Palliative care education in nursing homes: a qualitative evaluation of telementoring

There is an increasing need to support nursing homes in palliative care to reduce suffering and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions at the end of life. Providing education to nursing homes faces many barriers including structural systems and cultural issues. In order to overcome some of these barriers, education using Project Extension for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) methodology has been delivered to nursing homes throughout a large city in England. This paper aims to explore participant experience in Project ECHO for nursing homes.

Methodology Qualitative semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of nursing home staff. Interviews were conducted by one researcher and transcribed verbatim. Line-by-line coding and categorisation were used to form themes.

Results Eleven interviews were completed with data saturation reached by interview eight. The following themes were revealed: Barriers and facilitators to accessing Project ECHO, Community of Practice and Communication with nursing homes and data extraction.

Conclusion Project ECHO is an accessible, acceptable and engaging way of delivering palliative care education to nursing homes combatting some of the traditional barriers that nursing homes face in accessing training.