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Education
iValidate: a communication-based clinical intervention in life-limiting illness
  1. Nicholas Simpson1,
  2. Sharyn Milnes1,2,3,
  3. Peter Martin4,
  4. Anita Phillips4,
  5. Jonathan Silverman4,
  6. Gerry Keely1,
  7. Mike Forrester5,
  8. Trisha Dunning3,
  9. Charles Corke1 and
  10. Neil Orford1
  1. 1 ICU, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  2. 2 Clinical Education and Training Unit, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  3. 3 Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Deakin University Faculty of Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  4. 4 School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  5. 5 Paediatric Unit, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Ms Sharyn Milnes, Clinical Education and Training Unit, Barwon Health, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia; sharyn.milnes{at}deakin.edu.au

Abstract

Objectives Report the implementation, user evaluation and key outcome measures of an educational intervention—the iValidate educational programme—designed to improve engagement in shared decision-making by health professionals caring for patients with life-limiting illness (LLI).

Design Prospective, descriptive, cohort study.

Participants Health professionals working in acute care settings caring for patients with an LLI.

Main outcomes measured Participant evaluation of learning outcomes for communication skills and shared decision-making; demographic data of participants attending education workshops; and documentation of patients with LLI goals of management, including patient values and care decision based on area in acute care and seniority of doctor.

Results The programme was well accepted by participants. Participant evaluations demonstrated self-reported improved confidence in the areas of patient identification, information gathering to ascertain patient values and shared decision-making. There was strong agreement with the course-enhanced knowledge of core communication skills and advanced skills such as discussing mismatched agendas.

Conclusions We described the educational pedagogy, implementation and key outcome measures of the iValidate education programme, an intervention designed to improve person-centred care for patients with an LLI. A targeted education programme could produce cultural and institutional change for vulnerable populations within a healthcare institution. A concurrent research programme suggests effectiveness within the current service and the potential for transferability.

  • palliative care
  • hospital care
  • communication
  • education and training
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001669

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    Footnotes

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it was published Online First. A major typograpical error was amended in paragraph two of the introduction.

    • Collaborators Jill Mann; Claire McKie.

    • Contributors NS: planning, data analysis, primary manuscript development and revision, guarantor of overall content. SM: planning, manuscript development and revision, data collection and analysis, development of tables and figures, submitted the study. NO: planning, data analysis, manuscript revision. PM: manuscript development and revision. GK: data collection, manuscript revision. CC, MF, AP, TD, JS: manuscript revision.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.