Implementing an integrated pathway to care for the dying: Is your organisation ready?

Abstract

Background: Integrated pathways for care of the dying aim to promote the delivery of high-quality palliative care, regardless of access to specialist services.

Aim: To produce a heuristic technique to assist with planning and evaluating the integration of the care of the dying pathway into everyday work.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched to identify research papers focused on the implementation of integrated pathways for care of the dying in acute hospital settings.

Results: A total of 13 articles were reviewed using the four elements of normalisation process theory—coherence, cognitive participation, collective action and reflexive monitoring. These results informed the development of a heuristic for organisational readiness.

Conclusion: The organisational readiness heuristic provides an evidence-based checklist for organisational leaders who are planning to introduce new, or evaluate current, integrated pathways for care of the dying. The next step is to trial the heuristic for feasibility in practice.