Palliative care in Wels: Innovative solutions to lack of staff

Palliative care in Wels: Innovative solutions to lack of staff

in Wels, a place that, like the rest of the country, suffers from an acute lack of qualified nursing staff, the mobile palliative team has found an innovative solution. The Wels Hospice has decided to integrate nursing assistants into the palliative care team in order to counteract this challenge.

palliative care plays a central role in the treatment and care of patients who suffer from severe, often life -limiting diseases. This special care form aims to offer the patients a dignified environment in their last phases of life that includes medical, physiotherapeutic and psychosocial support. Volunteers also make a decisive contribution to ensuring that this care is possible in their own four walls, which is of great importance for many patients.

challenges and solutions

The current situation in the care sector requires creative and sustainable solutions. "The involvement of nursing assistants in palliative care is a first important step to ensure comprehensive and sensitive care," explains Daniela Feregyhazy-Astecker, the head of operations at Hospiz Wels. Although these specialists are not directly responsible for all medical activities, there are numerous tasks that do not require any special training in the sense of a qualified health and nursing staff (DGKP). So there is more time for the DGKP to concentrate on medical care.

Andrea Peterwagner, who dealt with the current situation in the Palliative care area during her studies in Health Care Management at WU Vienna, describes: "Due to the academic training of the DGKP at universities of applied sciences, they will increasingly work in management positions and spend less time on the nursing bed." This development requires new strategies to close the gap caused by the restructuring of the nursing staff. The legal changes by the GUKG amendment 2022 (health and nursing law) offer the necessary legal framework to integrate nursing assistants into the mobile palliative team.

The decision to include nursing assistants in palliative care is not only a reaction to the lack of personnel, but also an enrichment for the team's care skills. "Since nursing assistants specialize in care, they represent a valuable addition to the multi-professional team," emphasizes Feregyhazy-Astecker. Overall, it can be seen that the use of nursing assistants can be a promising strategy in order to meet the special needs of palliative care. In the future, this approach could serve as a model for other regions that have to master similar challenges.

The integration of nursing assistants is therefore a directional step towards a better care structure for seriously ill patients. The measures that are taken in Wels could have far -reaching effects on the quality of palliative care not only in the region, but also in all of Austria.

For more information about the current developments in palliative care in Wels and the challenges that the staff faces, an article on www.tips.at interesting insights.