Kentucky's palliative care report card.
Last Acts released the first nationwide evaluation of palliative care services in November 2002. Each state was evaluated or "graded" on the following eight measures: advance care planning policies, location of death, hospice use, hospital end-of-life care services, care in ICUs at the end of life, pain among nursing home residents, state pain policies, and palliative care certified physicians and nurses. Kentucky scored well on state pain policies and number of nurses certified in palliative care but received low grades for hospital services and the number of patient deaths occurring in the home. This manuscript explores Kentucky's deficiencies and accomplishments related to the Last Acts evaluation and addresses opportunities for improving end-of-life care across the Commonwealth.
Head
Barbara
B
University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, KY, USA.
Ritchie
Christine S
CS
Scharfenberger
Jennifer
J
Keeney
Cynthia
C
Hermann
Carla
C
Pfeifer
Mark
M
D032722:Advance Care Planning / Q000592:standards; D002568:Certification; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards; D006291:Health Policy; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D059408:Pain Management; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D013041:Specialties, Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States