SPHERE team wins grant to improve end-of-life care in cardiology

A team of researchers from the SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Implementation Science Academy has been awarded a highly competitive St Vincent’s Clinic Research Foundation grant to conduct research aimed at improving end-of-life care for patients in Australian cardiology wards.

Led by early-career researcher Dr Nicola Straiton, alongside Tessa Holman and Professor Sandy Middleton from the Nursing Research Institute at St Vincent’s Health Sydney and Australian Catholic University, the project is a collaborative effort. The team also includes A/Prof Suzanne Sheppard-Law (University of Technology Sydney, Prince of Wales Hospital), Associate Professor Gemma McErlean (University of Wollongong, St George Hospital), and other SPHERE Academy members. Together, they will focus on enhancing care for patients with life-limiting cardiovascular conditions in hospital settings.

"We are humbled to receive this funding, allowing us to undertake co-designed research in such a critical area of cardiovascular care. This research fosters collaboration between hospitals and clinicians to ensure patients receive high-quality care during the end of life," said Dr Straiton.

This project is a collaborative initiative involving SPHERE clinicians from St Vincent's Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, and St George Hospital alongside SPHERE academic researchers and consumers. It is part of a broader research program led by Professor Diana Slade, Liza Goncharov, Dr Georgia Carr and colleagues from the Australian National University.

Care provided during the final stages of life can significantly reduce distress and trauma for patients with advanced life-limiting conditions, as well as for their carers. However, fast-paced hospital environments such as cardiology wards face particular challenges in delivering end-of-life care due to high patient volumes, urgent situations, and the unpredictable nature of patients' conditions. Consequently, 68% of cardiology patients receive non-palliative interventions in the last 48 hours of life, reflecting the difficulty of balancing acute care needs with palliative considerations.

This research will examine end-of-life care practices for patients who died within the last two years on cardiology wards through a multi-site retrospective medical record audit, guided by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) developed the End-of-Life Care Audit Tool.

By comparing the patterns of adherence and deviation from end-of-life care practice as recommended by the ACSQHC Standards, this study will identify current areas of best practice, guiding future initiatives to enable high-quality care for patients in their final days.

This project is another example of the Academy's collaborative, multicentre approach to enhancing patient outcomes and care delivery. It highlights the significant impact of nurse and midwifery-led research, demonstrating how routinely collected data can be leveraged to improve patient care—an approach aligned with a learning health system ecosystem," said Prof Middleton.