Paramedics Providing Palliative Care at Home: Using mixed methods to understand the experiences of care and bereavement from the perspective of patients and families in a national spread collaborative

In 2015, the Paramedics Providing Palliative Care at Home Program was started in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to help people with life-limiting diseases get better palliative care and support when they are nearing the end of life. The Program means paramedics can give care at home, without always taking people to the emergency department and is expanding across Canada. In this study, we want to connect with patients, families and caregivers in several provinces to understand their experiences and follow their journey with their disease and getting help when they need it. This could include times they call 9-1-1 for paramedics, going to the emergency/hospital, death, and grieving. We plan to add questions about paramedic care to palliative care surveys that are already sent out to patients and caregivers. We also plan to do telephone interviews once a month with a few patients/families who are willing and able, to better understand their experiences as their disease progresses. In the first interview, we will learn about the person's life and surroundings, to understand what social and health supports they have. In monthly calls after that we will talk about the patient and families experience with paramedic and other palliative care. The team will bring all of that together to look for ways to change or add to what help is available. We will share what we learn with the other government and health programs which may be able to make changes to what supports are there when people want to stay home as they near the end of life.