An Education Model for Paediatric Palliative Care

Building capacity for equitable paediatric palliative care in regional, rural and remote areas.

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33966/hepj.7.1.17855

Abstract

Introduction: Meeting the palliative care needs of children and their families is complex and challenging. For countries such as Australia, whose relatively small paediatric palliative care population is dispersed across a very large geographical area, one challenge is maintaining a skilled workforce in regional, rural, and remote areas, where, when compared to major cities, there are fewer resources, and the workforce is often transient.


Methods: The Quality of Care Collaborative Australia (QuoCCA) Pop-up Model of Education was used to provide palliative care education to health professionals across three geographical locations and facilities, to facilitate a 2,500-km transfer of a child with complex palliative care needs from a tertiary hospital to the remote family home on Country.


Results: Each Pop-Up provided effective education to facilitate the successful transfer of the child to the next hospital location. Over 18 months, three Pop-Ups occurred. Relational learning and real-time problem solving enabled health professionals to build confidence and capacity to successfully transfer the child from the regional hospital to the remote family home.


Implications: The QuoCCA Education Pop-up Model is a feasible method to deliver timely access to speciality education. The model can be successfully applied in multiple settings.

Keywords: paediatric, palliative care, integrated health care delivery, learning, rural, education models.

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Author Biographies

  • Julie Duffield, Paediatric Palliative Care Service, Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Adelaide, Australia

    Julie Duffield is a Registered Nurse with a Graduate Diploma in Palliative Care who has worked for the South Australian specialist Paediatric Palliative Care Service since 2007. Julie’s current role is Specialist PPC Educator with the Australian wide project Quality of Care Collaborative Australia: Delivering education in paediatric palliative care (QuoCCA).

  • Rebecca Iten, Paediatric Palliative Care Service, Perth Children’s Hospital, Perth

    Rebecca is a Registered Nurse who has worked for the West Australian specialist Paediatric Palliative Care Service. Rebecca was a Specialist PPC Educator with the Australian wide project Quality of Care Collaborative Australia: Delivering education in paediatric palliative care (QuoCCA). 

  • Melissa G Heywood, Victorian Paediatric Palliative Care Program, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne

    Melissa works as a Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Victorian Paediatric Palliative Care Program (VPPCP) at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. VPPCP is a state-wide service for children with palliative care needs. Melissa completed a Nursing Science Fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital.

  • Alison McLarty, Paediatric Palliative Care Service, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service

    Alison McLarty is an experienced oncology and palliative care nurse who is a nurse educator with the QuoCCA program.

  • Dr. Alison Bowers, Cancer and Palliative Care Outcomes Centre, Centre for Healthcare Transformation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

    Alison Bowers is a Research Fellow with QUT School of Nursing and is based at the Centre for Children's Health Research. Alison is an experienced paediatric nurse with an interest in paediatric palliative care and health services research.

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Published

2024-05-28

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Articles

How to Cite

An Education Model for Paediatric Palliative Care: Building capacity for equitable paediatric palliative care in regional, rural and remote areas. (2024). Health Education in Practice: Journal of Research for Professional Learning, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.33966/hepj.7.1.17855