Introduction
‘End of Life Essentials’ (EOLE) provides online learning opportunities and practice resources for health professionals to improve the quality and safety of end-of-life care in hospitals. [1] ‘Paediatric End-of-life Care’ is one of these modules.
Aims
Methods
Pre- test/post- test data (knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence) are collected routinely for each module. A question ‘What is your biggest challenge when engaging with a dying child and supporting families and friends?’ is also asked at the end of this module. Qualitative analyses were completed on data collected during a 1 year period 2019-2020. Ethical approval was received (Flinders University project 7012).
Results
Learners were most commonly nurses working in acute hospitals. Major themes identified from comments regarding the biggest challenge were ‘dealing with emotions’ and ‘communicating effectively’.
Discussion
Health professionals working with dying children can benefit from targeted resources addressing knowledge gaps. Findings identify areas that if addressed may improve the quality of end of live care for children in hospitals.
Conclusion
Providing quality care for children dying in hospital is challenging. The paediatric EOLE module is an important resource for hospital staff working with dying children and families.