Communicating Health Information at the End of Life: The Caregivers’ Perspectives

Health information and communication are key elements that allow patients and family members to make decisions about end-of-life care and guarantee a death with dignity. Objective: To understand caregivers’ experiences regarding health information and communication during the illness and death of family members. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in Andalusia based on the paradigm of hermeneutic phenomenology. Participants were caregivers who had accompanied a family member at the end of life for over 2 months and less than 2 years. Five nominal groups and five discussion groups were established, and 41 in-depth interviews with 123 participants were conducted. Atlas.ti 7.0 software was used to analyze the discourses. A comprehensive reading was carried out along with a second reading. The most relevant units of meaning were identified, and the categories were extracted. The categories were then grouped in dimensions and, finally, the contents of each dimension were interpreted and described given the appropriate clarifications. Results: Four dimensions of the dying process emerged: di erences in caregivers’ perceptions of information and communication, a conspiracy of silence, consequences of the absence or presence of information, and the need for a culture change. Conclusions: Poor management of health information and communication at the end of life increased the su ering and discomfort of patients and their families. The culture of denying and avoiding death is still present today. A change in education about death would better enable health professionals to care for patients at the end of life.Project PI-0643/2012, "The dying process in Andalusia. Qualitative analysis from the perspective of informal caregivers", was funded by the Department of Health and Social Welfare, Junta of Andalusia, Spain. In addition, the Andalusian Association of Community Nursing (ASANEC, its acronym in Spanish) has contributed to the project. The present study was conducted by the working group on Care Bioethics and Humanization of this scientific society

Professional quality of life, self-compassion, resilience, and empathy in healthcare professionals during COVID-19 crisis in Spain

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed healthcare professionals to suffering andstressful working conditions. The aim of this study was to analyze professionalquality of life among healthcare professionals and its relationship with empathy,resilience, and self‐compassion during the COVID‐19 crisis in Spain. A cross‐sectional study was conducted with 506 healthcare professionals, who participatedby completing an online questionnaire. A descriptive correlational analysis wasperformed. A multivariate regression analysis and a decision tree were used toidentify the variables associated with professional quality of life. Empathy, resi-lience, and mindfulness were the main predictors of compassion fatigue, compassionsatisfaction, and burnout, respectivelyConsejería de Salud y Familias, Junta de Andalucía, Grant/Award Number: AP‐0100‐2016; University of Huelva/CBUA: Funding for open access charg

Compassion fatigue, burnout, compassion satisfaction and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 health crisis in Spain.

To evaluate compassion fatigue (CF), burnout (BO), compassion satisfaction (CS) and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health crisis in Spain. Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare professionals have had to deal with traumatic and complex situations in the work context. In these particularly stressful situations, many professionals may develop CF or BO, which puts them at risk for mental health problems. Cross-sectional online survey. A total of 506 healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) who were working in healthcare centres during the COVID-19 pandemic participated. CF, CS and BO were assessed with the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire, and perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-14. Socio-demographic and occupational variables were also analysed. Data were collected during the period of the highest incidence of cases and highest mortality rates due to COVID-19 in Spain. This article adheres to the STROBE guidelines for the reporting of observational studies. Physicians had higher CF and BO scores, while nurses had higher CS scores. Perceived stress scores were similar in both occupations. Professionals working in specific COVID-19 units and in emergency departments had higher CF and BO scores, while levels of CS and perceived stress were similar regardless of the workplace. Despite the health crisis situation and its implications for healthcare professionals, the levels of CF and BO have remained moderate/high. However, CS seems to be increasing, especially among nurses, possibly due to their motivation to relieve suffering and due to their perceived social recognition. It is necessary to implement interventions that help improve CS and prevent BO and CF among professionals in the long term

Compassion fatigue, burnout, compassion satisfaction and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the COVID‐19 health crisis in Spain

To evaluate compassion fatigue (CF), burnout (BO), compassion satisfaction (CS) and perceived stress in healthcare professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) health crisis in Spain. Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare professionals have had to deal with traumatic and complex situations in the work context. In these particularly stressful situations, many professionals may develop CF or BO, which puts them at risk for mental health problems. Cross-sectional online survey. A total of 506 healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses) who were working in healthcare centres during the COVID-19 pandemic participated. CF, CS and BO were assessed with the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire, and perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-14. Socio-demographic and occupational variables were also analysed. Data were collected during the period of the highest incidence of cases and highest mortality rates due to COVID-19 in Spain. This article adheres to the STROBE guidelines for the reporting of observational studies. Physicians had higher CF and BO scores, while nurses had higher CS scores. Perceived stress scores were similar in both occupations. Professionals working in specific COVID-19 units and in emergency departments had higher CF and BO scores, while levels of CS and perceived stress were similar regardless of the workplace. Despite the health crisis situation and its implications for healthcare professionals, the levels of CF and BO have remained moderate/high. However, CS seems to be increasing, especially among nurses, possibly due to their motivation to relieve suffering and due to their perceived social recognition. It is necessary to implement interventions that help improve CS and prevent BO and CF among professionals in the long term