Unintended, percolated work: Overlooked collaborative opportunities during end-of-life care
05/16/25 at 03:00 AM
Unintended, percolated work: Overlooked collaborative opportunities during end-of-life care
EurekAlert! - American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); by Institute of Science Tokyo; 5/14/25
[This study's researchers describe:] "Bereaved family members broadly recollected the mixed regretful actions and decisions that should have been taken during the end-of-life care process. Coordination and cooperation challenges that existed between health care professionals and family caregivers emerged as factors that impeded these actions at the time." [They identified three types of] unintended, percolated work (UPW). ...
- ... overloaded work experienced during the caregiving and end-of-life stages, which arose from the demands of their daily life, compounded by the added responsibilities of caregiving ...
- ... overlooked work due during the end-of-life and near-death stages ... [leaving] the caregivers helpless and abandoned due to a lack of support from medical professionals and other family members.
- ... overstepped work experienced during the near-death stage by medical professionals, where doctors and nurses intervene in the patients' care, unintentionally disregarding the agency of the family caregivers