The last week of life of nursing home residents with advanced dementia: a retrospective study.
Dementia
Nursing homes
Palliative care
Journal
BMC palliative care
ISSN: 1472-684X
Titre abrégé: BMC Palliat Care
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101088685
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
27 Dec 2019
27 Dec 2019
Historique:
received:
12
07
2019
accepted:
19
12
2019
entrez:
29
12
2019
pubmed:
29
12
2019
medline:
9
6
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Barriers to palliative care still exist in long-term care settings for older people, which can mean that people with advanced dementia may not receive of adequate palliative care in the last days of their life; instead, they may be exposed to aggressive and/or inappropriate treatments. The aim of this multicentre study was to assess the clinical interventions and care at end of life in a cohort of nursing home (NH) residents with advanced dementia in a large Italian region. This retrospective study included a convenience sample of 29 NHs in the Lombardy Region. Data were collected from the clinical records of 482 residents with advanced dementia, who had resided in the NH for at least 6 months before death, mainly focusing on the 7 days before death. Most residents (97.1%) died in the NH. In the 7 days before death, 20% were fed and hydrated by mouth, and 13.4% were tube fed. A median of five, often inappropriate, drugs were prescribed. Fifty-seven percent of residents had an acknowledgement of worsening condition recorded in their clinical records, a median of 4 days before death. Full implementation of palliative care was not achieved in our study, possibly due to insufficient acknowledgement of the appropriateness of some drugs and interventions, and health professionals' lack of implementation of palliative interventions. Future studies should focus on how to improve care for NH residents.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Barriers to palliative care still exist in long-term care settings for older people, which can mean that people with advanced dementia may not receive of adequate palliative care in the last days of their life; instead, they may be exposed to aggressive and/or inappropriate treatments. The aim of this multicentre study was to assess the clinical interventions and care at end of life in a cohort of nursing home (NH) residents with advanced dementia in a large Italian region.
METHODS
METHODS
This retrospective study included a convenience sample of 29 NHs in the Lombardy Region. Data were collected from the clinical records of 482 residents with advanced dementia, who had resided in the NH for at least 6 months before death, mainly focusing on the 7 days before death.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Most residents (97.1%) died in the NH. In the 7 days before death, 20% were fed and hydrated by mouth, and 13.4% were tube fed. A median of five, often inappropriate, drugs were prescribed. Fifty-seven percent of residents had an acknowledgement of worsening condition recorded in their clinical records, a median of 4 days before death.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Full implementation of palliative care was not achieved in our study, possibly due to insufficient acknowledgement of the appropriateness of some drugs and interventions, and health professionals' lack of implementation of palliative interventions. Future studies should focus on how to improve care for NH residents.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31882007
doi: 10.1186/s12904-019-0510-x
pii: 10.1186/s12904-019-0510-x
pmc: PMC6935223
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Multicenter Study
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
117Subventions
Organisme : Foundation Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde and Foudation Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze
ID : Grant 2011/1515
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