The lived experience of Maltese healthcare professionals when working with stroke patients

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative study is to gain understanding of the Maltese Healthcare Professionals lived experience when working with stroke patients. Data was collected through six semi-structured interviews conducted with a senior pharmacologist, physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a doctor, a charge nurse and a psychologist. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis resulting in three super-ordinate themes. These themes were the challenges encountered daily by the healthcare professionals, years of work experience helps improve the healthcare professionals’ confidence and job satisfaction helps to reduce burnout. The findings highlighted that a sense of satisfaction is gained by the healthcare professionals when the patient improves, but also when the healthcare professionals work together as an interdisciplinary team. A persisting challenge is the workload and lack of physical resources at the hospital. Furthermore, the professionals’ perspective elicits that there is the need for more Continuous Professional Development. The implications of this study are to research on how the roles and responsibilities of the healthcare professionals can change if there would be shared care and shift from hospital to community to reduce the workload of the healthcare professionals.