Healthcare professionals' experiences of providing palliative care for patients with diabetes - a qualitative study

• Published in: BMC palliative care Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 241 - 10
• Main Authors: Seim, Signe, Monsen, Ragnhild Elisabeth, Kolltveit, Beate-Christin Hope, Graue, Marit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 10-10-2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Attitude of Health Personnel; Blood sugar; Cancer; Care and treatment; Collaboration; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus - psychology; Diabetes Mellitus - therapy; Diabetes therapy; Diabetics; Dietitians; Disease; End-of-life care; Female; Health aspects; Health Personnel - psychology; Hospices (Terminal care); Hospitals; Humans; Hypoglycemic agents; Interviews; Interviews as Topic - methods; Male; Medical personnel; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Norway; Nurse specialists; Nurses; Nursing care; Nursing homes; Palliative care; Palliative Care - methods; Palliative Care - standards; Palliative treatment; Patients; Physicians; Professional ethics; Qualitative interviews; Qualitative Research; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Verbal communication; Workshops; Norway; Palliative care; End-of-life care; Diabetes; Qualitative interviews; Quality of life
• ISSN: 1472-684X; 1472-684X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12904-024-01567-4

At present, there are no specific guidelines for the treatment of diabetes in palliative care in Norway. The aim of this study was therefore to explore healthcare professionals' experiences of providing palliative care to individuals with diabetes in specialist as well as primary care settings.
We interviewed 12 healthcare professionals from two palliative care units in specialist healthcare, one hospice unit in a nursing home, and one dietary care unit providing counselling in the municipality in the eastern part of Norway. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
Our analysis generated three main themes: 1) "Quality of life is the main focus", which showed that the healthcare professionals' main focus was on comforting patients through engagement and communication; 2) "An individualized approach", emphasizing that the treatment was tailored to the unique circumstances of each individual and considered factors such as life expectancy, difficult blood glucose control, and multidisciplinary collaboration, and 3) "Diabetes in the background", which highlighted that they had a modest focus on diabetes. Diabetes was seen as another aspect of health that they had to be aware of, but their limited knowledge of diabetes guidelines, technical tools, and treatment choices underscored that attentiveness to the diabetes treatment was not prominent.
The findings show that a lack of guidelines allowed for diverse approaches to the treatment of patients with diabetes in palliative care. Attentiveness to diabetes was based on the individual healthcare professionals' experience and expertise, professional views, and the circumstances of each individual.