Teaching nurses to teach: A qualitative study of nurses' perceptions of the impact of education and skills training to prepare them to teach end-of-life care

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To explore nurses' perceptions of the impact of a programme designed to train them to teach end-of-life care.

Background: Central to national and international policies are the need for generalist healthcare staff to have education in end-of-life care. Much end-of-life care education is provided by specialist nurses who often have no specific education development to prepare them to teach. To address this gap, an Education Development Programme (EDP) was developed and delivered to specialist nurses. We report on the evaluation of the programme.

Design: A qualitative programme evaluation methodology was adopted.

Methods: Data were collected through focus groups, at three hospice education centres in North West England, with a total of 20 participants. Nurses who had completed the EDP were purposively sampled. Data were digitally audio-recorded and subjected to thematic analysis to organise, reduce and refine the data. Ethical approval was obtained. COREQ guidelines have been adhered to in the reporting of this study.

Results: Two main themes were identified; learning to teach and building skills to change teaching practice. Participants felt more confident and better prepared to teach.

Conclusions: It cannot be assumed that specialist staff, with teaching in their role, have the skills to facilitate learning. This programme offers a potential method of improving facilitation skills for nurses who have an education element to their role.

Relevance to clinical practice: Quality end-of-life care is only possible with a skilled workforce, confident and able to apply the principles of compassionate end-of-life care to everyday practice. Appropriately trained, specialist staff are better able to teach others how to deliver good quality end-of-life care. Specialist staff with teaching responsibilities should be provided with, or engage in, continuous professional development to develop their skills and improve their efficacy when teaching.

Keywords: end-of-life care; focus groups; nurse education; palliative care; qualitative research.