Including patient voices in palliative approaches to care education

At the heart of a patient-centered approach in healthcare is open and transparent communication between the provider and their patient. Proficiency in advance care planning, serious illness conversations, and palliative approaches to care are enhanced when we see and can be seen by each other.  

New research from Generator at Sheridan’s Centre for Elder Research (CER) has explored ways of understanding how to include patient voices in these discussions in a respectful, dignified and collaborative way.  

Supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada - Mobilize Seed Fund, CER researcher Dr. Karen Slonim worked on a feasibility study that consisted of interviews with members of the community across the Halton and Hamilton regions, and retirement home residents sharing their insights and feelings about death and dying with staff, volunteers and clinicians. 

 These co-designed videos  are now available on SOURCE. The project also carried out interviews with volunteers, staff, and clinicians from primary care and hospice to better understand the barriers and facilitators to collaborating with each other to include persons receiving a palliative approach to care in research. 

The Centre plans to leverage the valuable insights from this project in future discussions within the community around palliative approaches to care.  Specifically, the intent is that the patient-centred approach showcased in these videos will support clinicians working with persons at end-of-life in their training and education, for an enhanced ability to hear and communicate effectively with their patients. 

Find out how the Centre for Elder Research is unlocking innovation in seniors’ care: sheridancollege.ca/elder-research