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Background and aim: Since the introductionof the concept ofpalliativecarein a cantonal hospital in Switzerland in 2006,mainlyquantitativedata for evaluationof quality standards has been collected. Evaluation of experience of round table discussions (rtd) by patients is completely lacking. For this reason,qualitative interviews with patients have beenconductedfrom August 2014.
Method: Each patient where a rtd was held, has been screened. If patient is eligible, he/ she will be invited for a narrative interviewwithin a maximum of 7 days after the rtd. Inclusion criteria are: patient in palliative situation, older than 18 years, all divisions of hospital, all diagnoses, inpatient, is able to communicate and decide whether he/ she wants to participate in the interview, understands and talks German. If the patient consents, he/ she then is invited to freely talk about experiences during rtd. Guiding questions are framing the interview. Interviews are tapped and transcribed and evaluated with qualitative content analysis. 20 interviews are aimed for.
Results: By the end of September 2014 out of 55 patients where a rtd has been held, 12 patients have been eligible. Out of this, 4 interviews (33% of eligible patients) have been conducted. Reasons for drop outs: no documentation about rtd was found at care unit, attending physician resp. nurse dissuades from asking for consent, discharged from hospital
Discussion: First results suggest that not all units in the hospital define a rtd similarly and physicians and nurses at care units have to be instructed that at least two professions have to participate in a rtd in palliative situation. Further important information to improve quality of care is expected from the interviews and the recruiting process.