Virtual Home-based Palliative Care During COVID-19: A Qualitative Exploration of the Patient, Caregiver, and Healthcare Provider Experience

Overview

Journal Palliat Med

Publisher Sage Publications

Specialty Critical Care

Date 2022 Sep 8

PMID 36071621

Authors

Daniel Vincent

Cayden Peixoto

Kieran L Quinn

Kwadwo Kyeremanteng

Genevieve Lalumiere

Allison M Kurahashi

Nathalie Gilbert

Sarina R Isenberg

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many community palliative healthcare providers shifted from providing care in a patient's home to providing almost exclusively virtual palliative care, or a combination of in-person and virtual care. Research on virtual palliative care is thus needed to provide evidence-based recommendations aiming to enhance the delivery of palliative care during and beyond the pandemic.

Aim: To explore the experiences and perceptions of community palliative care providers, patients and caregivers who delivered or received virtual palliative care as a component of home-based palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Qualitative study using phone and video-based semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Setting/participants: A total of 37 participants, including community palliative care patients/caregivers ( = 19) and healthcare providers ( = 18) recruited from sites in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Results: Overall, participants preferred in-person palliative care compared to virtual care, but suggested virtual care could be a useful supplement to in-person care. The findings are presented in three main themes: (1) Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on community palliative care services; (2) Factors influencing transition from exclusively virtual model of care back to a blended model of care; and (3) Recommended uses and implementation of virtual palliative care.

Conclusions: Incorporating virtual palliative care into healthcare provider practice models (blended care models) may be the ideal model of care and standard practice moving forward beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, which has important implications toward organization and delivery of community palliative care services and funding of healthcare providers.

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