Nurse decision-making about the delivery of skin care to patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Nurse decision-making about the delivery of skin care to patients with advanced cancer at the end of life: an exploratory study
IRAS ID
206696
Contact name
Ray Samuriwo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
This exploratory study seeks to examine nurses’ decision making skin care at the end of life and to develop a prototype decision making algorithm (PDMA) to improve the accuracy of nurses decisions about skin care at the end of life. Data will be gathered through four focus groups- (two with six family members/or lay carers and two with six nurses), 10-12 days of non-participant observation on wards in an Oncology hospital and semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 12 key informants such as nurses and support workers from this clinical area. The focus groups and interviews will be arranged at convenient times, digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis, underpinned by shared decision making theory, will be used to analyse the data in order to identify ways in which nurses’ decision making about skin care at the end of life can be improved and the role that patients and their loved ones can play in this process.
The insights that emerge about nurses’ decision making about the skin care of patients at the end of life will have significance for the nursing profession as it will highlight ways in which nurses can be supported to make appropriate decisions about this aspect of patient care. This study will facilitate the development of a PDMA, which can then be developed and tested further in subsequent research. This study is expected to have wider significance for nursing especially in relation to the care of patients at the end of life. It will focus on the factors that impact on nurses’ decision making about the prioritisation and delivery of skin care and what support is needed for nurses to ensure that they can consistently deliver high quality skin care to patients at the end of life.
REC name
Wales REC 1
REC reference
16/WA/0163
Date of REC Opinion
1 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion