Vol. 7 | No. 1 | 2024
An Education Model for Paediatric Palliative Care
Abstract of the research
Paediatric palliative care is rarely seen in regional, rural or remote communities for children with life limiting conditions and their families, with these health service providers having limited experience and reduced confidence in caring for them.
Australian specialists in paediatric palliative care (PPC) created the Pop-Up Model of Care (PMOC) to deliver flexible education. The PMOC builds confidence in health professionals (HP) and the communities of children with a palliative approach to care. In this article, we described the PMOC in practice.
What is the purpose of the research?
The aim of PMOC is to ‘improve the quality of palliative care provided to children in close proximity to their home, across Australia with innovative education.’ This would ensure equitable, accessible, and best practice PPC is available wherever the child and family live.
We used Jo’s (pseudonym) 18-month journey to illustrate and to describe the PMOC in practice.
Jo’s narrative demonstrates how the PMOC details targeting the needs of the local HP and community services, to ensure the child and family goals of care, best practice in care delivery, resources, and real time support are met.
What did the researchers do?
We used a de-identified case to illustrate the steps involved in the PMOC. The process of planning the education included the principles of adult education, relational learning, and real time problem solving.
Our example showed how a child with a life-limiting condition and their family can be supported to travel from a tertiary health care facility to their home.
We reflected on how the PMOC aligns with aspects of the public health approach to palliative care, encouraging collaboration between acute and community services, supporting the creation of supportive environments, and strengthening community action.
What did the researchers find?
For each leg of the child’s journey, the education supported health professionals and community services to confidently care and facilitate the next step toward home, while meeting the family’s goals of care for their child.
The researchers found the PMOC is a successful, resource efficient system for improving outcomes of care for children with a life-limiting condition and their families.
How can the research be used?
The PMOC health education is proven to be successful in achieving improved service provider confidence.
There is potential for this model to be applied in many circumstances; it is learner driven, keeps the child and family at the centre of the education, increases resource access, addresses problems in real time, promotes specialist and generalist health professional collaboration, and improves health professional confidence to care.
Read the full research report published in the Health Education in Practice Journal Vol. 7 | No. 1 | 2024