Symptom experience of dying long-term care residents.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the end-of-life symptoms of nursing home (NH) and residential care/assisted living (RC/AL) residents, compare staff and family symptom ratings, and compare how staff assess pain and dyspnea for cognitively impaired and cognitively intact residents.


METHODS
After-death interviews.


METHODS
Stratified random sample of 230 long-term care facilities in four states.


METHODS
Staff (n=674) and family (n=446) caregivers for dying residents.


METHODS
Interview items measured frequency and severity of physical symptoms, effectiveness of treatment, recommendations to improve care, and staff report of assessment.


RESULTS
Decedents' median age was 85, 89% were white, and 77% were cognitively impaired. In their last month of life, 47% had pain, 48% dyspnea, 90% problems with cleanliness, and 72% symptoms affecting intake. Problems with cleanliness, intake, and overall symptom burden were worse for decedents in NHs than for those in RC/AL. Treatment for pain and dyspnea was rated very effective for only half of decedents. For a subset of residents with both staff and family interviews (n=331), overall ratings of care were similar, although agreement in paired analyses was modest (kappa=-0.043-0.425). Staff relied on nonverbal expressions to assess dyspnea but not pain. Both groups of caregivers recommended improved application of treatment and increased staffing to improve care.


CONCLUSIONS
In NHs and RC/AL, dying residents have high rates of physical symptoms and need for more-effective palliation of symptoms near the end of life.
Hanson
Laura C
LC
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA. lhanson@med.unc.edu
Eckert
J Kevin
JK
Dobbs
Debra
D
Williams
Christianna S
CS
Caprio
Anthony J
AJ
Sloane
Philip D
PD
Zimmerman
Sheryl
S
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011368:Professional-Family Relations / Q000941:ethics; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States