The Myton Hospices Research Nurse completes Masters to help inform her work in end of life care
The Myton Hospices is a research-active hospice, taking part in and developing research projects to improve understanding of palliative and end of life care, helping to ensure everyone receives the very best specialist care.
Research Nurse Lizzy Jenkins has recently completed her Masters in Research in Health and Care, further developing her knowledge and skills to support this important work. As part of her studies, Lizzy undertook research exploring how people living with a life-limiting illness experience and understand peace towards the end of life.
The research explored what peace means to people, how it feels as they become increasingly unwell, and how important it is to their experience of living with illness. Through interviews with people receiving hospice care, the study gave participants the time and space to share their experiences in their own words.
Understanding what peace means to each individual can help healthcare professionals recognise needs that may otherwise go unnoticed, supporting more personalised and compassionate care. The research aims to inform how people approaching the end of life are cared for, helping professionals consider how they can better support people to find peace.
Following her research, Lizzy was invited by WM Cares to deliver a presentation at its conference in October, sharing her work and contributing to wider conversations about health and care.
Lizzy Jenkins, Research Nurse at The Myton Hospices, said:
"I loved everything about completing this Masters, even the challenging parts as it really stretched me and gave me a fantastic opportunity to develop my research skills and define where my strengths lie. My work on the meaning of peace at end of life was invaluable, I learnt so much from the participants and feel extremely grateful to them. This area of research highlighted to me how we make can make lots of assumptions about end of life experiences but until we ask those who are actually dying we don't really know what it is like, my work acknowledges this. Thank you to everyone who supported me in the pursuit of this Masters I am so grateful and I'm really enjoying sharing my work with others."
Jodie Morris, Director of Patient & Family Services at The Myton Hospices, said: “We are incredibly proud of Lizzy and all she has achieved in completing her Masters. Her commitment to developing her knowledge and skills is a real asset to Myton, and the work she has undertaken is helping to develop our research activity as a hospice.
“Research plays an important role in improving our understanding of what matters to people at the end of life and how we can provide the best possible care. By supporting our team to develop their expertise and contribute to research, we can continue to learn, challenge existing approaches and find new ways to meet the needs of the people we care for.
“We want everyone to receive the very best care at the end of life, and research helps us to achieve that.”
Through the charity’s research activity, Myton is committed to building knowledge, sharing learning and exploring ways to enhance care for people living with life-limiting illnesses. By taking part in existing studies and developing new research, they aim to help shape the future of palliative and end of life care, both locally and beyond.
To find out more about how research plays a vital role in our work at Myton, please contact Lizzy on [email protected]