How to develop a hospice palliative care program
Alberta Health and Wellness provides the mandate to the nine Regional Health Authorities to develop palliative care programs based on the needs of their communities. The Hospice Palliative Care Network provides consultation and resources to RHAs to assist them with the development of programs or services, when needed. A regional approach to hospice palliative care programming facilitates the movement towards a seamless and integrated approach to service delivery.
Often, the planning of hospice palliative care programs or services is guided by a needs assessment.
Among the most important steps is assessing the interest of institutional leaders, which will help to reconcile priorities that may not be shared. It can be useful to interview the various stakeholders likely to be affected by the new program, such as opinion leaders: physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, chaplains, the governing board and, most important, patients and their families. Once proponents have articulated how the new hospice palliative care program or service supports the overall mission and vision of the organization or health region, planners should conduct a needs assessment focused on collecting and analyzing relevant data.
Data collection will require a review of patient and population demographics and identification of patient populations that can benefit most from hospice palliative care (e.g., patients living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc.). The needs assessment should also identify and evaluate all community resources that provide hospice palliative care (e.g., hospice facilities, home care, nursing homes, churches, funeral service providers with bereavement support programs, etc.).
Once the needs of a community or a region are clearly outlined, organizers can begin planning their hospice palliative care programs. Each phase of the planning process is detailed in the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association document A model to guide hospice palliative care (.pdf format, 3.0 MB).
• What is hospice palliative
care?
• Hospice palliative
care in Alberta
• Current activities
of the Hospice Palliative Care Network
• Hospice palliative
care resources
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