End of Life Care Decisions in Care Homes: Knowledge Exchange Workshop

Dr Teggi held a knowledge exchange workshop on how care home staff and general practitioners (GPs) influence the place and way in which care home residents die.

The workshop was attended by 80 participants, including care home managers, nurses, GPs, care workers, residents’ relatives and close companions as well as end-of-life rights advocates and lay people with an interest in palliative care.

The workshop drew on Dr Teggi's PhD findings and adopted an Evidence Café methodology. This approach supported participants to explore how the research findings might support their practice and helped Dr Teggi to engage with practice-based insights.

Dr Teggi led the workshop with the help of colleagues and designed discussion objects to share her thesis' findings on the following topics:

1) Decisions to prescribe anticipatory medications for the management of dying symptoms (e.g. opioids and midazolam injections)
2) Decisions to prescribe antibiotics towards the end of life
3) Decisions to stop or continue food and fluids provision towards the end of life

Participants' reported to have gleaned new insight on EOLC provision from the workshop. Dr Teggi realised that most care home staff and managers lament the absence of standardised procedures to guide EOLC deicsions and advance care planning.