Background: Transmural palliative care interventions aim to identify older persons with palliative care needs and timely provide advance care planning, symptom management, and coordination of care. Nurses can have an important role in these interventions; however, their expertise is currently underused. A new transmural care pathway with a central role for the community care registered nurse in advance care planning aims to contribute to the quality of palliative care for older persons. Objective: To examine the perspectives of community nurses on the feasibility of a new transmural care pathway for advance care planning for older persons. Design: A qualitative study design using semi-structured interviews. Setting(s): Interviews were performed with community nurses of three participating homecare organizations in the Netherlands between March and May 2023. Participants: 19 community nurses. Methods: A topic guide was based on (1) challenges in advance care planning identified from the literature and (2) concepts that are important in assessing the feasibility of complex healthcare interventions provided by the Normalisation Process Theory framework. A combined inductive and deductive thematic analysis was performed. Results: Four themes were identified: views on the transmural care pathway, community nurses’ needs to fulfil their role, key points regarding implementation, and evaluation of the new practice. In general, community nurses were positive about the feasibility of the new practice as it provided a more structured work process that could facilitate interprofessional collaboration and improve the quality of palliative care. Overall, the feasibility of the new practice, from community nurses perspective, was determined by (1) clear roles and responsibilities in the transmural care pathway, (2) standardized registration of advance care planning, and (3) close involvement of community nurses in the whole implementation process. Conclusions: We highlighted important factors, from the perspectives of community nurses, that need to be considered in the implementation of a new transmural care pathway for advance care planning. A clear division of roles and responsibilities, standardized registration of advance care planning, and involvement of community nurses during the whole implementation process were mentioned as important enabling factors. This knowledge might contribute to successful implementation of a transmural care pathway that aims to enhance the quality of palliative care for older persons. Tweetable abstract: Community nurses’ perspectives on the feasibility of a transmural care pathway for advance care planning for older persons.
Every healthcare professional (HCP) in the Netherlands is expected to provide palliative care based on their initial education. This requires national consensus and clarity on the quality and goals of palliative care education and accessible education opportunities nationwide. These requirements were not met in the Netherlands, posing a major obstacle to improving the organization and delivery of palliative care. Therefore, a program, Optimizing Education and Training in Palliative Care (O2PZ), was established to improve palliative care education on a national level.
MULTIFILE
Purpose of reviewSkeletal muscle mass with aging, during critical care, and following critical care is a determinant of quality of life and survival. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms that underpin skeletal muscle atrophy and recommendations to offset skeletal muscle atrophy with aging and during, as well as following, critical care.Recent findingsAnabolic resistance is responsible, in part, for skeletal muscle atrophy with aging, muscle disuse, and during disease states. Anabolic resistance describes the reduced stimulation of muscle protein synthesis to a given dose of protein/amino acids and contributes to declines in skeletal muscle mass. Physical inactivity induces: anabolic resistance (that is likely exacerbated with aging), insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, decreased satellite cell content, and decreased capillary density. Critical illness results in rapid skeletal muscle atrophy that is a result of both anabolic resistance and enhanced skeletal muscle breakdown.SummaryInsofar as atrophic loss of skeletal muscle mass is concerned, anabolic resistance is a principal determinant of age-induced losses and appears to be a contributor to critical illness-induced skeletal muscle atrophy. Older individuals should perform exercise using both heavy and light loads three times per week, ingest at least 1.2 g of protein/kg/day, evenly distribute their meals into protein boluses of 0.40 g/kg, and consume protein within 2 h of retiring for sleep. During critical care, early, frequent, and multimodal physical therapies in combination with early, enteral, hypocaloric energy (ﰅ10–15kcal/kg/day), and high-protein (>1.2 g/kg/day) provision is recommended.
