Original Study
Palliative Care Implementation in Long-Term Care Facilities: European Association for Palliative Care White Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.01.009Get rights and content
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Abstract

Objectives

The number of older people dying in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) is increasing globally, but care quality may be variable. A framework was developed drawing on empirical research findings from the Palliative Care for Older People (PACE) study and a scoping review of literature on the implementation of palliative care interventions in LTCFs. The PACE study mapped palliative care in LTCFs in Europe, evaluated quality of end-of-life care and quality of dying in a cross-sectional study of deceased residents of LTCFs in 6 countries, and undertook a cluster-randomized control trial that evaluated the impact of the PACE Steps to Success intervention in 7 countries. Working with the European Association for Palliative Care, a white paper was written that outlined recommendations for the implementation of interventions to improve palliative and end-of-life care for all older adults with serious illness, regardless of diagnosis, living in LTCFs. The goal of the article is to present these key domains and recommendations.

Design

Transparent expert consultation.

Setting

International experts in LTCFs.

Participants

Eighteen (of 20 invited) international experts from 15 countries participated in a 1-day face-to-face Transparent Expert Consultation (TEC) workshop in Bern, Switzerland, and 21 (of 28 invited) completed a follow-up online survey.

Methods

The TEC study used (1) a face-to-face workshop to discuss a scoping review and initial recommendations and (2) an online survey.

Results

Thirty recommendations about implementing palliative care for older people in LTCFs were refined during the TEC workshop and, of these, 20 were selected following the survey. These 20 recommendations cover domains at micro (within organizations), meso (across organizations), and macro (at national or regional) levels addressed in 3 phases: establishing conditions for action, embedding in everyday practice, and sustaining ongoing change.

Conclusions and implications

We developed a framework of 20 recommendations to guide implementation of improvements in palliative care in LTCFs.

Keywords

Palliative care
implementation
interventions
quality improvement
long-term care facilities
nursing homes

Cited by (0)

This work was supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007e2013) under grant agreement 603111 (PACE project Palliative Care for Older People).

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.