Palliative care (PC) nurses provide a pivotal role in the care of the patient and families with life limiting illnesses. 

Liverpool hospital is the major tertiary referral and teaching hospital for the South- Western Sydney Local Health District. Palliative Care services include a 20 bed inpatient unit, serviced by a multidisciplinary team consult service. A gap analysis was conducted on the PC ward and identified that unique nursing skills such as critical thinking, holistic assessments and the ability to have sensitive and difficult conversations with the dying patient and their families were lacking. 

To address this, a rotation of a Registered Nurse from the PC ward to the consult team every 6 months to fill an existing vacant position (0.6 FTE) was initiated. The aim of the rotation was to meet the PC nurse educational needs, improve clinical skills and critical thinking, and an opportunity to experience the consult service first hand. At the completion of the rotation, it would be expected that the PC nurse could integrate this advanced palliative care knowledge and skills into their clinical practice on return to the PC ward. Since April 2022, two staff have rotated through the palliative care consult service.

Post rotation feedback from the participating staff included reporting incorporating newly gained skills and experience into clinical practice in the PC ward, improved confidence in physical assessment skills and overall performance as a PC clinician.

The rotation of the Registered nurses from the PC ward to the consult team has seen improved performance in documentation, their confidence in assessments and knowledge when interacting with other health professionals and communication with their patients and families. This rotation has become instrumental in succession planning for the future.