Caregiver experiences in administering subcutaneous medications to community palliative care patients: Integrative review

As many as 70% of Australian patients report they would prefer to die at home, yet only 14% achieve this goal and this hospitalization adds to overall healthcare expenditure. Providing caregivers with practical means for managing symptoms at home facilitates home deaths for palliative care patients and reduces the financial healthcare burden. The aim of this paper is to understand the experience of caregivers administering subcutaneous medications at home to palliative care patients. An integrative review search of the literature revealed five common themes: positive caregiver experiences and caregiver concerns, symptom management, specialist palliative care support needs, educational requirements, and supporting patients to remain at home. Evidence strongly suggests that with support and education from a palliative care team, caregivers find their experience is empowering and positive. Without support and education, patients are more likely to present to hospital leading to admission and subsequent death not in their place of preference.