Presentation Category- Evidence-Based Practice – Quality, safety and innovation
Evaluation of confidence and competency in managing syringe drivers for residents with identified palliative care needs: A quality improvement project
Introduction/Background/Significance
Integration of specialist palliative care services within the residential aged care sector includes building competency in residential aged care staff to manage syringe drivers. Syringe drivers are one clinical tool that can be used to manage common palliative care symptoms in the residential aged care setting. Recent NSW state funding has enabled the purchase of 5 syringe drivers and the addition of a community clinical nurse specialist to provide education and support for syringe driver management.
Aims/Objectives/Hypothesis/Goals or Problem
To evaluate residential aged care staff confidence and competence in utilising syringe drivers in residents with identified palliative care needs.
Approach/Methods/Procedure
This quality improvement project involved an initial phone call or email to 61 residential aged care facility (RACF) managers to explore the use of syringe driver within their RACF. Only 35% of RACF managers identified that their staff were competent in managing syringe drivers. A 1-hour education session was delivered either face-to-face or virtually to staff from remaining facilities where managers identified that their staff were not yet competent or confident in managing syringe drivers. Pre and post-education surveys that included three numerical rating scales to evaluate ‘usefulness’, ‘knowledge/competence’ and ‘confidence’ were distributed. Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests were used to analyse pre and post- education survey scores.
Results/Findings/Outcomes
After nine months of implementation, 72% of RACFs were able to include syringe drivers in their palliative care management plan. Significant improvements were demonstrated in perceived usefulness (p=0.019); competence (how much they knew) (p<0.001) and confidence (p<0.001) in managing syringe drivers for their residents.
Discussion/Implications for practice
Ongoing education and support across RACFs is required to integrate syringe drivers as an additional tool for RACF staff to best manage common palliative symptoms. This would promote equality of access and provide the option for residents to die comfortably in the care setting of their choice.
Conclusion
Integration of syringe driver education within RACFs improved the competency and confidence and perceived usefulness of syringe drivers among RACF staff.