Personalized Patient and Family Experience at EOL
The 3WP was perceived by clinicians and key stakeholders to improve the patient experience by personalizing EOL care, prompting important conversations, and returning some decision-making to the patient and family. Nurses and the physician indicated that the 3WP helped to individualize care in the patient’s final moments. A physician shared one of the wishes where a nurse, “… got the frame and some ink and she made a thumbprint heart with the grandma’s thumb and the grandchild’s thumb. I just thought that was so beautiful, and it’s easy to do, it’s personalized.” [P4 ] Others discussed that by eliciting wishes, they were encouraged to engage in conversations to better understand what is important to the patient. A bedside nurse commented that the 3WP, “sparks a conversation, which I think we should all have in those moments, or even before EOL… what is important to us and what is important in our care.”[P1 ] Another nurse observed that, “it gives decision making back to the family and the patient.” [P1 ] A clinician emphasized how the 3WP “gives [the family] permission to ask for [something] or gives them permission to say “Yeah, I would love that,” or “He would love that.” [P2 ] Eliciting wishes from families was perceived to give families a voice and seemed to help address common feelings of overwhelming helplessness through acknowledging these wishes.