Abstract

‘There is still a workforce crisis in the NHS the number one priority for health care providers is making sure they have enough staff to deliver safe care’ Davies (2016). This is certainly something we have experienced and as a result in the hospice where previously applications would be from nurses in palliative care we are now employing many nurses from a variety of backgrounds, so their palliative care knowledge can be limited.

Due to this shift in experience, we notice that inducting new starters was more complex than it had been. Entering Palliative care nursing can be very daunting for nurses coming from different specialities, particularly with the doses of medications used ‘off licence’ (Twycross et al., 2014) that we use to achieve symptom management. We therefore wanted new staff to feel empowered and valued, and felt that through providing them with an information pack when we are encouraging them to think about their knowledge gaps, giving them an information resource and guiding them through that period of induction.

Process of Implementation- What is current in education, relevant e-Learning, introduction to equipment we used, worksheets on key issues in palliative care to engage thinking around topics, face to face sessions on complex issues with advanced nurse practitioner, pharmacist and nurse consultant and requirement to complete a reflection. Feedback was very positive. Inclusion of reflection was deemed particularly useful with the timing of revalidation and encouraging reflection on practice from day one.

It continues to be an evolving document, as new feedback is received and research published, the pack is regularly adapted to meet the needs of our new staff. Considering transferability, we have already witnessed that it has been so well accepted that, we are making it available to all nursing staff to help assist them with self-development.