Researchers report findings to improve medication management in palliative care | Research news

  1. Contrast:
  1. Our services
  2. Carers
  3. Join us
  4. Get involved
  5. Contact
  6. About us
  7. Research
  8. For professionals
  9. Our charity
  10. News
  11. Help in a crisis
  1. Our services
    1. East of England Community Forensic CAMHS
      1. Information for children and young people
      2. Information for families / carers
      3. Information for professionals
      4. Our partners
    2. Community Paediatrics
    3. Darwin Nurseries
      1. About us
      2. Farm Shop
      3. The Farm
      4. Hanging baskets
      5. Referrals
    4. Phoenix centre
      1. Information for patients, parents and carers
      2. Our treatment pathway
      3. Phoenix School
      4. Meet the team
      5. Referrals to Phoenix
    5. Occupational therapy - Children
      1. Occupational therapy toolkit
      2. Occupational therapy referrals
    6. Speech and Language Therapy Service- Children
      1. About Speech and Language Services
      2. Referrals
      3. Speech and Language Therapy Toolkit
      4. Training, Webinars and Interventions
    7. Primary care mental health team
      1. Primary Care Mental Health Service: Information for carers
      2. Peer Support Workers in PCMHS
      3. Referrals to the Primary Care Mental Health Service
      4. Evaluation report on Primary Care Mental Health Service
    8. Physiotherapy Service- Children
      1. General Information
      2. Referrals
      3. Early Years Development
      4. Specialist Clinics
      5. Postural Care and Management
      6. Keeping Active
    9. Psychology Service- Children
      1. Psychology Toolkit
    10. Cambridge Centre for Paediatric Neuropsychological Rehabilit
      1. Make a referral
      2. CCPNR Covid-19 update
      3. Our work
      4. Visiting CCPNR
      5. About us
    11. Darwin Centre
      1. Who we are
      2. Our aim
      3. Education
      4. For Young People
      5. Parents/Carers
      6. Referrals
      7. Gallery
      8. Darwin vacancies
    12. NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Talking Therapies
      1. Self-Refer Here
      2. Treatments We Offer
      3. Older Adults (+65)
      4. Employment Support
      5. For Professionals
      6. Self Help Videos
      7. Resources
      8. COVID-19 updates
    13. The Croft Child and Family Unit
      1. Children
      2. Parents
      3. Professionals
      4. News and events
    14. Adult eating disorder services
      1. Norfolk Community Eating Disorder Service
      2. What are Eating Disorders?
      3. Information for inpatients
      4. Assessment Clinics (S3)
      5. Referrals (S3)
      6. Three-day multi-family work
      7. Legal issues: The legal framework
      8. The treatment programme on S3
      9. Information for carers
      10. The Ward Environment
      11. Treatment
      12. Keeping Safe Programme
  2. Carers
    1. Adult Carers
    2. Parent Carers
    3. Young carers
    4. Carers' Handbook
      1. Carers' Handbook: Introduction
      2. Getting the support you need to continue caring
      3. Getting regular support
      4. Legislation
      5. Benefits and respite
      6. Understanding the diagnosis
      7. Medication and physical health
      8. Understanding suicidal thoughts and suicide prevention
      9. Your wellbeing
      10. Further resources
    5. Understanding self harm
    6. Zero Suicide
    7. Urgent and emergency support
  3. Join us
    1. Latest vacancies
    2. Temporary staffing
    3. Apprenticeships
    4. Accommodation
    5. Contact us
    6. Meet Our Staff
    7. Featured Recruitment
    8. Children's, Young People's and Families Services
    9. Older People Adult and Community
    10. Adults Specialist Mental Health
    11. Adult in-patient wards
    12. Cambridge Adult Locality Team
    13. Home First
    14. Healthcare Support Workers
    15. Return to Practice
  4. Get involved
    1. Our charity
    2. Heart and Soul
    3. Volunteer
    4. Become a member
    5. Peer Support Workers
    6. Involvement
      1. Patient, Service User and Carer Experience and Involvement Strategy 2024
      2. Involvement Opportunities
      3. Participation and Partnership Forum
    7. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Adopting Innovation Hub
    8. Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework
      1. PCREF latest news and updates
    9. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS)
    10. PRIDE awards
      1. Team Nomination
      2. Employee Nomination
  5. Contact
    1. Head Office Contact
    2. Provide feedback/share your views
      1. Patient and carer experience feedback
    3. Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
    4. Complaints
    5. Medical records
    6. Press and media
  6. About us
    1. Board of Directors
      1. Executive Director portfolios
    2. Council of Governors
    3. Patient resources
      1. Post-Covid Syndrome resources
      2. Service leaflets
      3. Insight into series
      4. Long-term conditions leaflets
      5. Self-harm
      6. Duty of Candour
      7. Shared decision-making
      8. Taking care of your information
      9. Smoke-free and fire safety
      10. Cambridge Children's Hospital
    4. Corporate Information
      1. Publications
      2. Privacy and Dignity
      3. Treasury Disclosure of Information
      4. Freedom of Information
      5. National Data Opt Out
      6. Fraud
      7. Mental Health Act
      8. Armed Forces Covenant
      9. Privacy Notice
      10. Cookie policy
      11. Accessibility policy
    5. Covid information
    6. Quality and Safety
      1. Electronic Prescribing & Medicines Administration (EPMA)
      2. Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
      3. Sexual safety
      4. Safer staffing
      5. Documents that guide practice
      6. Safeguarding Declarations
      7. Advocacy
      8. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
      9. Infection control
      10. Zero suicide
    7. Glossary
  7. Research
    1. About our research
      1. Blog
      2. Research news
      3. Research@CPFT newsletter
      4. Research publications
      5. Resources
    2. Public, patients and carers
      1. Be part of our research
      2. Our research stories
      3. Learn about research
    3. Researchers and health staff
      1. Early research considerations
      2. Research approval process
      3. Research passport
      4. Research training
      5. United States funded research
    4. Research Database
    5. Windsor Research Unit
    6. Clinical innovation
  8. For professionals
    1. GPs, primary care & health professionals
    2. Local Authority
    3. Medicines and pharmacy
    4. CPFT Academy
    5. Staff Mental Health Service
    6. Staff Support Hub
    7. HAY Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
    8. East of England, NHS Specialist Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative
    9. Mental Health Learning Disabilities and Autism ABU
      1. Mental Health Community Transformation
      2. Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism In-Patient Quality Transformation
      3. Trauma Informed System
      4. 16-25 Mental Health offer
      5. Neurodiversity including Autism Strategy
      6. Learning Disabilities Improvement plan
      7. Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)
      8. Mental Health Housing Integration
      9. Mental Health Crisis
      10. Older peoples Mental Health & Dementia
      11. VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) Influence and Partnership
  9. Our charity
    1. About Head to Toe
    2. What we do
      1. Where your money goes
      2. Children, young people and families
    3. Support us
      1. Fundraise
      2. Events
      3. Campaigns
      4. Volunteer
      5. Play the lottery
      6. Leaving a Gift in Your Will
      7. Corporate partners
      8. Trusts and Foundations
    4. Information for staff
      1. Pennies from Heaven (MicroHive)
      2. Useful support for staff and patients
    5. Donate
  10. News
  11. Help in a crisis

Search the CPFT NHS Trust website

Advanced options
Back to the news

Researchers report findings to improve medication management in palliative care

A study led by CPFT experts reviewing how medications are used in palliative care to support patients in the community has been published in a leading international nursing journal.

Injectable medications prescribed in anticipation - just in case, are commonly used by visiting nurses to help manage symptoms in the last days of life and can be prescribed weeks or months before they are needed. 

CPFT’s Honorary Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care Dr Ben Bowers worked with Isobel Wilkerson, Associate Director of Nursing and Quality for Older People and Adult Community (OPAC) services on a research study to understand how these medicines are managed once they are prescribed and how benefits for patients are reported.

Ben (pictured above) said: “We found that injectable anticipatory medications are commonly used by visiting nurses to help manage symptoms in the last days of life. However, there is not enough detail recording the effectiveness of medications and perceived patient comfort in clinical records, which can impede continuity of care for patients and learning between health professionals and organisations.

“More detailed information should be routinely recorded in clinical records to assess and ensure effective use of anticipatory medicines and support person-centred care, communication and collaboration between health professionals visiting patients in the community.“

The full article is available to read from the International Journal of Nursing Studies online here: Administering injectable medications prescribed in the anticipation of the end of life in the community: A mixed-methods observational study - ScienceDirect

This work was supported through Ben’s Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship with the University of Cambridge Primary Care Unit and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England (NIHR ARC EoE, hosted by CPFT), with funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research and the Royal College of Nursing Foundation Professional Bursary Scheme.

Ben leads a research programme to understand and improve end-of-life symptom control at home, working with CPFT and NIHR ARC EoE to run several research projects in this specialist area. He brings the latest evidence to CPFT’s OPAC community nursing teams with complex patient care advice, end of life symptom control training, and reflective practice sessions.

Community and primary care nursing professionals interested in developing research skills and improving clinical practice can join the Community Nursing Research Forum at the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) to access free support and research resources.
Find more details on the QNI website.  
 

Pictured is a staff member with a headset answering a telephone call

As a patient, relative or carer using our services, sometimes you may need to turn to someone for help, advice, and support. 

Patient Advice and Liaison service  Contact the Trust

We use cookies on this website to help improve our service. Cookies let us anonymously see how our site is used. They also allow us to show content which is most relevant to you. if you are OK with this, please press "Accept". For information on how the Trust uses cookies, please see our Privacy policy.

Please choose a setting: