Laycarers can confidently prepare and administer subcutaneous injections for palliative care patients at home: A randomized controlled trial:

Background:Palliative care patients consistently nominate home as their preferred care environment. This is challenging without support from laycarers, especially if patients require subcutaneously administered symptom relief. Laycarers typically lack confidence with this task and request professional guidance.Aim:To explore differences in laycarers’ confidence in administering subcutaneous injections depending upon whether a laycarer, registered nurse or pharmacist prepared injections for subsequent administration by laycarers.Design:Prospective randomized controlled trial with three intervention arms: laycarer prepares, labels and stores injections; registered nurse prepares injections; and pharmacist prepares injections for later administration by laycarer.Setting/participants:In all, 93 laycarers, from 24 urban and rural community services, completed the study.Results:The primary outcome of interest was laycarer confidence with injection administration; analysis of variance revealed no significant dif...