Within the hospice environment staff are enabled to keep abreast of current research to ensure best practice through our Journal Club, which other hospices have highlighted as an example of best practice.
Research
As a research active hospice, Shooting Star Children’s Hospices makes stringent efforts to continually promote evidence-based practice and research, to support high quality care and services for children with life-limiting conditions and their families. Whilst increasing in recent years, research evidence within children’s palliative care remains sparse compared with that underpinning care of the adult population with palliative care needs.
Supporting a research active environment
Journal Club
Practice Education Team
Our dynamic Practice Education Team ensure that all staff training and education is updated to reflect current evidence relevant to our specialism.
Partnership working
We recognise the need for partnership working with academic institutions, so we participate in research supported by academic expertise, knowledge and skills.
Further education
We’re keen to support staff pursuing further education and research. Several members of staff are pursuing postgraduate degrees or other continuing professional development opportunities.
Research themes and objectives
Our partners
- Governance
- Public and patient involvement
- Funding
Research Governance Committee
Our Research Governance Committee is made up of internal and external professionals who are enthused about building research capacity and looking at new and more effective ways to provide care for children and their families. The committee is responsible for ensuring that any research carried out is robust, ethical, relevant, appropriate, completed and disseminated. There are still gaps in knowledge regarding children’s palliative care – patient-focused evidence of needs, experiences and the effectiveness of interventions are a priority for us now and for the future.
Public and Patient Involvement
For research to be high quality, relevant, and to effect needed change, the views of the people are directly impacted need to be meaningfully involved, and therefore at Shooting Star, we are keen to involve children, young people, and their families in the research we conduct.
We run regular sessions with a parent group of volunteers who provide feedback on our service, including proposed changes. We plan to train parents in research topics to empower them with the skills to participate in research.
Funding
Funding is needed to build and sustain a program of research. Research is expensive and the costs are unlikely to diminish in the coming years. We are aiming to further develop our existing program of research in order to keep pace with the changing needs of the population served and to maintain the standing of our care services within the wider children’s palliative care network.