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Objective: Hospitals increasingly appoint nurse champions to improve quality of care. This study investigated the effect of palliative care nurse champions on nursing end-of-life care. Methods: Imbedded in a controlled before-after study (June 2009-July 2012) on care for the dying patient in the hospital, nurses completed questionnaires on end-of-life care within two weeks after the patient’s death. Halfway the study, seven out of 18 participating wards appointed two palliative care nurse champions. Characteristics of end-of-life care were compared for patients who died before and after the introduction of the nurse champion program and with outcomes in 11 control wards. Results: In the intervention wards, data were collected on 81 patients in the pre-intervention period and on 93 patients in the post-intervention period; in control wards these numbers were 114 and 121, respectively (response 54%). After the introduction of the nurse champion program, nurses in the intervention wards more frequently discussed imminent death with patients (35% pre-intervention vs 50% post-intervention, p=0.05), were more frequently aware of psychological symptoms (57% vs 71%, p=0.04), and performed less futile interventions during the final hours (on average 0.8 vs 0.4 out of 4 interventions, p |
