title: A model long-term care hospice unit: care, community, and compassion.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influenced the quality of care of terminally ill nursing home residents on a hospice unit in a city and county long-term care facility. The findings disclosed that the hospice team had created a cultural environment in which care, community, and compassion were the predominant components of their philosophy of palliative care. Communication at all levels-among staff, family, friends, and residents-was found to be a core hospice value, essential to community development. The results of this study illustrate that exemplary palliative care can be provided when an interdisciplinary team is dedicated to creating an environment where the principles of palliative care can be fully implemented. The authors conclude that there is a developing role for geriatric nurses to participate in further defining and providing palliative care for older people in their homes, hospitals, nursing homes, and residential care.
authors.affiliation: Departmennt of Physiological Nursing and UCSF/John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kayser-Jones
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kris
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015399:Nursing Research; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D019452:Terminally Ill