A quality improvement intervention to increase palliative care in nursing homes.
BACKGROUND
Death is common in nursing homes, but access to palliative care is limited.


OBJECTIVE
To test whether a quality improvement (QI) intervention in nursing homes increases hospice, pain management, and advance care planning.


METHODS
The QI intervention was tested in seven nursing homes using a prepoststudy design. Two additional nursing homes served as control sites.


METHODS
Nine nursing homes serving 1169 residents.


METHODS
The intervention included recruitment and training of Palliative Care Leadership Teams in each facility, followed by six technical assistance meetings for team members. Hospice providers delivered six educational sessions for all nursing home staff using a structured curriculum. Teams received feedback of performance data on hospice enrollment, pain management, and advance care planning at 0, 3, and 6 months.


METHODS
Percentage of residents receiving hospice or palliative services, pain assessment, pain treatment among residents in pain, and documented advance care planning discussions.


RESULTS
Intervention facilities increased hospice enrollment from 4.0% of residents at baseline to 6.8% postintervention (p = .01) and increased pain assessments from 18% to 60% (p < .001). Among resident in pain, orders for nonpharmacologic pain treatments increased from 15% to 35% (p < .001), but pain medication use did not change. Residents with in-depth discussions about end-of-life care increased from 4% to 17% (p < .001). There were no significant changes in control sites.


CONCLUSIONS
A quality improvement intervention was effective in increasing hospice enrollment, pain assessment, nonpharmacologic pain treatment, and advance care planning discussions.
Division of Geriatric Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599, USA. Laura_Hanson@med.unc.edu
Laura C
LC
Hanson
Kimberly S
KS
Reynolds
Martha
M
Henderson
C Glenn
CG
Pickard
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000193:education; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*