During the 2018-2019 academic year, 13 pairs of UNE health professions students conducted this immersion research (11 pairs from UNECOM and 2 pairs from the UNE Masters in Social Work Program). Each pair lived at GMHH for 48 hours and completed journals. However, only 2 UNECOM participants, who were each immersed with a partner on different weekends (August and September 2018), engaged in a comparison of their qualitative outcomes for this article. These medical students, both women, were in good academic standing and volunteered to be participants. Each completed the requirements to conduct the immersion, which included a registration form, a written statement about her interest in the Hospice Home Immersion project, her assumptions of what she expected to encounter during the 48-hour immersion, and a 1-hour orientation 1 week before the immersion. This orientation was provided by the project director to enhance the students’ learning about hospice, describe previous student immersion experiences, explain research components, and prepare them for this experience.
Upon entering GMHH, the students were introduced to the hospice home manager, who provided an additional orientation that included information about the acute-care in-patient hospice home, the interprofessional staff, care provision practices, and a tour.
15-18 Students received a GMHH name tag and security fob that provided access to all secure areas except the room where medications were stored. The students were paired with a certified nursing assistant who provided information about each patient and helped the student acclimate to the hospice environment. Students then worked with nurses, nurse practitioners, the chaplain, social workers, volunteers, and on their own or with their student peer. Each student met all patients in the home and learned about their family and social and medical histories. Students answered call bells and assisted staff with direct patient care, including toileting, bathing, repositioning, and feeding. They also engaged with patients and family members, assisted with new admissions, sat with patients who had no family or friends present, and provided postmortem care following a death that included a procession. The procession involved accompanying the family as the deceased person was wheeled on a gurney out of the building to the funeral director's van. For each procession, the decedent was either covered with a flag (veteran) or a homemade quilt. During staff shift changes every 12 hours, students participated in the transition report of patients. Interprofessional staff team meetings occurred each morning of the student's immersion. At night, students shared a room and slept in a bed where many patients had died before.
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