Evaluation of an after hours telephone support service for rural palliative care patients and their families : a pilot study

Objective: To report on the introduction and evaluation of an after hours telephone support service for palliative care patients and their families at home. Design: Descriptive evaluation using an audit of telephone logbook, text analysis of reflective journals, questionnaire and interviews. Setting: Palliative care call service in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. Subjects: The participants were health professionals using the Palliative Care Service in Grafton (48 in total) and nurses providing the palliative care service (21 in total). Results: Twelve calls were taken by the nurses during the pilot study. Three major themes emerged from the analysis: preparation involving publishing the after hours telephone support service (AHTSS) and nurse workshop; benefits such as support to families and health service resourcing; and nurses’ experiences regarding personal impact and building support for each other. Conclusion: It appears from the evaluation responses of health professionals and nurses that knowing the service was there was a great security and reduced the sense of isolation predominant in the experience of rural families caring for a palliative care patient at home. Based on the positive evaluation, the area health service provided ongoing funding for the service and is exploring avenues to extend the program into other areas. The service now requires a re-evaluation at 18 months and will form the second phase of the study that is currently being organised