30 Essentials in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Practical Resource for Every Nurse Best Practice—Personal Characteristics and Ways of Being Preparing to care is about developing knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable you to provide the best care possible for the dying person and their family. This section identifies personal characteristics and ways of being that contribute to best practice in HCPs working in palliative care. Developing these characteristics and ways of being and incorporating them into your practice will help you, as a nurse, to provide the best care possible. Best Practice Includes These Values and World View Davies and Steele researched best practice by asking, “What makes for excellence [defined as best practice] in health care professional1/parent interactions?” They asked parents of dying children to identify health care profes- sionals who provided the best care, and then observed their practices. The researchers identified commonalities present in all interactions occurring between parents and the best practice health care professionals. Davies and Steele (2016) suggest that health care professionals who demonstrate best practice share the following values and world view. • Honor—believing that all people, from all cultures, are worthy of honor • Respect—believing that every person deserves respect, autonomy, and control • Curiousity—exploring the world and people around them • Empathy—seeing the perspective of and feeling the emotions of another person • Excellence—striving for best practice by committing to lifelong learning • Acceptance—refraining from judging or labeling people • Connection—understanding that the person, family, and health care professionals are all linked Davies and Steele also identified contextual factors that affected a health care professional’s best practice. The health care team, its functioning, and its leadership are ex- amples of contextual factors that can enhance or diminish the health care professional’s capacity for best practice. Nurses who contribute to the health care team in ways that positively influence its function will, in turn, develop their best practice. Ethics Touchstone Ethical practice is the underpinning of best practice HCPs. Integral to weav- ing a palliative approach into nursing practice and your way of being with the dying person and family is the examination of your beliefs and values regarding how people experience chronic illness, dying, and death. To provide the best care, it is essential to reflect on what you believe excellent care is, and challenge yourself to discover what constitutes excellence. The goal of hospice and palliative care is to pro- vide care that honors the person and family. The context in which care is provided changes con- stantly as do the needs, experiences, beliefs, and values of the person receiving care. The many changes in the setting, the situation, and the people involved will require changes in how care is provided. In order to provide best care, it will be essential to consider the ethical dimen- sions of nursing practice. Ethics Touchstone Part 1:B. Promoting Health and Well-​ being, 4 Nurses collaborate with other health- care providers and others to maximize health benefits to persons receiving care and with health-care needs and concerns, recogniz- ing the knowledge, skills and perspectives of all. Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses (CNA, 2017) 1. The term “health care professionals” is used in this book to refer to Davies and Steele’s research subjects. That term should not be confused with the more general term “health care providers (HCPs).”