Compassionate and humanistic care for patients dying in the hospital has been especially challenging during the pandemic. Family presence is restricted, maximal barrier precautions are advised, and personal protective equipment must be preserved. This research examines the impact of adaptations to compassionate approaches to end of life care in a single center. The 3 Wishes Project (3WP) was created to promote the connections between patients, family members, and clinicians that are foundational to empathic end-of-life care. It provides a scaffold for discussions about preferences and values at the end of life and leads to acts of compassion that arise from soliciting and implementing wishes that honour the dying patient. It is partnered with the Footprints Project, which is an initiative encouraging staff to learn more about each patient. In a previous multi-center evaluation, the authors reported how the 3 Wishes Project is valuable, transferable, affordable and sustainable. During the pandemic, end of life care, facilitated by the 3 Wishes Project and Footprints Project, will be adapted to accommodate reduced family visiting and requirements to preserve PPE. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether the adapted 3 Wishes Project continues to be feasible and valuable during the pandemic, and determine how it influences the experiences of clinicians caring for patients dying during the pandemic.
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Perceptions and beliefs about value of the program
Timeframe: Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Feasibility of Enrolment as indicated by enrollment of 45 patients and successful adaptation of this approach to end of life care for all patients
Timeframe: Through study completion, an average of 1 year
Wish Implementation
Timeframe: Through study completion for each patient, from enrollment to 1 month postmortem
Wish Cost of less than $5/wish
Timeframe: Through study completion for each patient, from enrollment to 1 month postmortem
Family visiting as proportion of patients who had a family member present at the end of life
Timeframe: Through enrollment to death for each patient.