Empowering Frontlines: Evans Appiah Osei’s Call to Support Palliative Care Providers

  Imagine a world without healthcare providers where individuals must navigate illness, pain, and emotional turmoil alone. Healthcare providers, especially nurses, are the heroes who dedicate 8 to 12 hours of their day caring for others. They not only address physical needs but also provide emotional and psychological support. Yet, they often do so at […]

 

Imagine a world without healthcare providers where individuals must navigate illness, pain, and emotional turmoil alone. Healthcare providers, especially nurses, are the heroes who dedicate 8 to 12 hours of their day caring for others. They not only address physical needs but also provide emotional and psychological support. Yet, they often do so at the cost of their own well-being. Burnout, fatigue, and emotional distress are frequent consequences especially in the emotionally taxing field of palliative and end-of-life care (Hodgson, 1995).

Yet, society expects these professionals to remain emotionally strong and resilient, even as they quietly suffer the same emotional tolls they help patients navigate. Research confirms this burden: healthcare providers often experience similar psychological challenges as the patients they serve especially when working with terminally ill individuals (Semere et al., 2021).

Motivated by this disparity, Evans Osei Appiah—a Ghanaian palliative care researcher and PhD Nursing/Gerontology candidate at Purdue University led one of the first studies on nurses’ experiences caring for cancer patients in Ghana, highlighting their significant physical and emotional burdens (Osei et al., 2023).

The findings revealed key challenges nurses face: managing severe cancer pain, providing spiritual support, volunteering without pay for home visits in under-resourced areas, coping with the grief of losing closely bonded patients, and bearing the emotional burden of delivering difficult news to families.

Osei, whose earlier research focused on women’s cancer care and prevention, has authored more than 20 publications in this area. Now, his mission has evolved: to improve not just the lives of patients, but also the caregivers who make quality palliative care possible.

With over 8 years of hands-on caregiving experience, Osei believes strongly that recognizing palliative caregiver needs, addressing burnout, and advocating for mental health policies are essential to retaining and empowering the palliative care workforce. His research calls for policies that prioritize palliative provider well-being and self-care.

“It’s time to ask our caregivers how they’re really doing,” he says. “We must show appreciation, offer support, and create a system where caring for providers is as important as caring for patients.”

Contact Details

Evans Appiah Osei,

PhD Candidate – Nursing & Gerontology

Purdue University, Indiana, USA

Email: [email protected].

References

1. Hodgson, L. A. (1995). Nurses working 12-hour shifts in the hospice setting. Palliative Medicine, 9(2), 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/026921639500900206

2. Osei, E. A., Menlah, A., Xu, J., & et al. (2023). Exploring the challenges and roles of nurses in delivering palliative care for cancer patients and co-morbidities in Ghana. BMC Palliative Care, 22, 121. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-023-01211-7

3. Semere, W., Althouse, A. D., Rosland, A. M., White, D., Arnold, R., Chu, E., Smith, T. J., & Schenker, Y. (2021). Poor patient health is associated with higher caregiver burden for older adults with advanced cancer. Journal of Geriatric Oncology, 12(5), 771–778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgo.2021.01.002