ArticleJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine2022
Experiences of staff providing specialist palliative care during COVID-19: a multiple qualitative case study.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Evolving Roles and Expectations of Inpatient Palliative Care Through COVID-19: a Systematic Review and Meta-synthesis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Professional identity and moral agency in palliative care: A review.Nursing ethics · 2026Review
- Exploring perceptions of work motivation through the experiences of healthcare professionals who provided end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic (PRECA-C project): a qualitative study.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Dying in residential care homes during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- (Mis)alignment of employer support and needs of healthcare providers in end-of-life care during a healthcare crisis: a longitudinal mixed-method study during the COVID-19 pandemic (the CO-LIVE study).Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- Exploring the Long-Term Impact of Emotional Exhaustion on Frontline Nurse Managers Post-COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.Journal of nursing management · 2025Article
- Experiences of hospice staff beyond the frontlines during COVID-19: A qualitative secondary analysis study.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- "I have never felt so alone and vulnerable" - A qualitative study of bereaved people's experiences of end-of-life cancer care during the Covid-19 pandemic.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- From applause to disappointment - appreciation among healthcare providers that provided end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on well-being - a longitudinal mixed methods study (the CO-LIVE study).BMC health services research · 2024Article
- How end-of-life care was limited during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey study among healthcare providers (the CO-LIVE study).BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Understanding barriers and facilitators to palliative and end-of-life care research: a mixed method study of generalist and specialist health, social care, and research professionals.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Article
- Distress among healthcare providers who provided end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey study (the CO-LIVE study).BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Stress Factors for the Paediatric and Adult Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Team and Workplace Wellbeing Solutions.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Implementation of the Dementia Isolation Toolkit in long-term care improves awareness but does not reduce moral distress amongst healthcare providers.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- 'In the shower crying…but we came back in the following day and did it all again'. Distress and resilience in care home staff during the COVID-19 pandemic- A qualitative interview study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- More than the sum of its parts-A constructivist grounded-theory study on specialist palliative care during crises like the COVID pandemic.Palliative medicine · 2024Article
- "Backlash!"? A qualitative exploration of hospice palliative care staff's ongoing experiences of "living with covid".Palliative care and social practice · 2024Article
- Moral courage and its influencing factor among oncology specialist nurses: A multi-centre cross-sectional study.Nursing open · 2024Article
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for people with advanced progressive illness, their caregivers and staff involved in their care: A scoping review.Palliative medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo explore the experiences of, and impact on, staff working in palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
designQualitative multiple case study using semi-structured interviews between November 2020 and April 2021 as part of the CovPall study. Data were analysed using thematic framework analysis.
settingOrganisations providing specialist palliative services in any setting.
participantsStaff working in specialist palliative care, purposefully sampled by the criteria of role, care setting and COVID-19 experience.
main outcome measuresExperiences of working in palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
resultsFive cases and 24 participants were recruited (n = 12 nurses, 4 clinical managers, 4 doctors, 2 senior managers, 1 healthcare assistant, 1 allied healthcare professional). Central themes demonstrate how infection control constraints prohibited and diluted participants' ability to provide care that reflected their core values, resulting in experiences of moral distress. Despite organisational, team and individual support strategies, continually managing these constraints led to a 'crescendo effect' in which the impacts of moral distress accumulated over time, sometimes leading to burnout. Solidarity with colleagues and making a valued contribution provided 'moral comfort' for some.
conclusionsThis study provides a unique insight into why and how healthcare staff have experienced moral distress during the pandemic, and how organisations have responded. Despite their experience of dealing with death and dying, the mental health and well-being of palliative care staff was affected by the pandemic. Organisational, structural and policy changes are urgently required to mitigate and manage these impacts.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.