Barriers of palliative care practice among health care providers: In case of Jimma town, south west Ethiopia

Abstract

Globally, palliative care is an urgent humanitarian need for patients with cancer and other chronic disease. Currently, it is estimated that only one in ten people who need palliative care receive it. Therefore, this study is aimed to identify barriers preventing people from using the service. Institutional based qualitative case study was conducted among twenty-seven purposively selected health care providers. Two focus group discussions and fifteen individual interviewed were conducted from 1st April to 3oth June 2017. Ethical clearance was obtained from the university ethical review board. Atlas ti 7 was used to assist deductive analysis. A total of 27 health care providers from two public hospitals and one local nongovernmental organization were included in this study; fourteen of them were health professionals and thirteen were peer educators; of which 20 (74.07%) were females and 7(25.93%) were males. Unavailability of drug, un-conducive working environment, patient-related problems and lack of recourse are identified as barrier to provide palliative care. Numerous barriers exist on the healthcare providers' side, for the provision of palliative care for patients with chronic disease. Additional research is required to explore barriers in a patient side.