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“Caring as if it were my family”: Health care aides' perspectives about expert care of the dying resident in a personal care home

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2009

Susan McClement ,
Suzanne Wowchuk  and
Kathleen Klaasen
Susan McClement*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Suzanne Wowchuk
Affiliation:
College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Kathleen Klaasen
Affiliation:
Lions' Personal Care Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Susan McClement, Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, CancerCare Manitoba, 3017-675 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 0V9, Canada. E-mail: susan.mcclement@cancercare.mb.ca
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Abstract

Objective:

A qualitative pilot study was conducted to identify and describe expert behaviors in care of the dying resident in a personal care home setting from the perspective of health care aides (N = 5) nominated by their peers as demonstrating excellence in end-of-life care.

Methods:

Data was collected through audio-taped semi-structured interview, and transcribed verbatim using constant-comparative analysis procedures.

Results:

The over-arching theme emerging from the data was “caring as if it were my family.” Subsumed within this main theme included the sub-themes of: (1) care of the resident; (2) tending to the environment; (3) care of the family; (4) going to bat; and (5) processing loss.

Significance of results:

The findings from this pilot study provide preliminary empirical evidence that could inform educational programs for and performance evaluation of, health care aides providing end-of-life care in personal care home environments.

Keywords

Health care aidesExpert careDying residentsQualitative research
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 449 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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