Patient experiences of nurse-facilitated advance care planning in a general practice setting: a qualitative study

Advance care planning (ACP) can offer benefits to patients and their families, especially when delivered in outpatient settings, but uptake remains low. Common barriers for health professionals include a perceived lack of time and adequate training, experience, and confidence in conducting ACP. Patient-reported barriers include a lack of awareness of ACP or discomfort initiating or engaging in discussions about end-of-life.

We aimed to explore patients’ perspectives of an ACP intervention designed to address common barriers to uptake in the general practice setting. We provided training and support to doctors and general practice nurses (GPNs) to initiate and lead ACP discussions at their respective practices (2014 to 2015). Following the intervention, we conducted interviews with patients to explore their experience of engaging in ACP in the general practice setting. Thematic analysis was used to inductively code transcripts and identify key themes from semi-structured interviews with patients.

Six major themes relating to patient experiences of GPN-facilitated ACP were identified: working through ideas, therapeutic relationship with nurses, significance of making wishes known, protecting family from burden, autonomy in decision-making, and challenges of family communication. The patients valued the opportunity to speak about issues that are important to them with the GPN who they found to be compassionate and caring. The patients felt that ACP would lead to significant benefits not only to themselves but also for their family. Despite encouragement to involve other family members, most patients attended the ACP discussions alone or as a couple; many did not see the relevance of their family being involved in the discussions. Some patients felt uncomfortable or reluctant in communicating the results of their discussion with their family.

With adequate training and support, GPNs are able to initiate and facilitate ACP conversations with patients. Their involvement in ACP can have significant benefits for patients. Psychosocial and relational elements of care are critical to patient satisfaction. Our findings show that some patients may feel uncomfortable or reluctant to communicate the results of their ACP discussions with their family. A future larger study is required to verify the findings of this pilot study.