TY - JOUR
T1 - Large differences in the organization of palliative care in nursing homes in six European countries: findings from the PACE cross-sectional study
AU - Honinx, E.
AU - van den Block, L.
AU - Piers, R.
AU - Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D.
AU - Payne, S.
AU - Szczerbińska, K.
AU - Gambassi, G.
AU - Kylänen, M.
AU - Deliens, L.
AU - Smets, T.
AU - on behalf of PACE
AU - Gatsolaeva, Yuliana
AU - Miranda, Rose
AU - Pivodic, Lara
AU - Tanghe, Marc
AU - van Hout, Hein
AU - Pasman, Roeline H. R. W.
AU - Oosterveld-Vlug, Mariska
AU - Piers, Ruth
AU - Wichmann, Anne B.
AU - Engels, Yvonne
AU - Vernooij-Dassen, Myrra
AU - Hockley, Jo
AU - Payne, Sheila
AU - Leppäaho, Suvi
AU - Barańska, Ilona
AU - Pautex, Sophie
AU - Bassal, Catherine
AU - Mammarella, Federica
AU - Mercuri, Martina
AU - Rossi, Paola
AU - Segat, Ivan
AU - Stodolska, Agata
AU - Adang, Eddy
AU - Andreasen, Paula
AU - Kuitunen-Kaija, Outi
AU - Moore, Danni Collingridge
AU - Pac, Agnieszka
AU - Kijowska, Violetta
AU - ten Koppel, Maud
AU - van der Steen, Jenny T.
AU - de Paula, Emilie Morgan
N1 - Funding Information: Other PACE collaborators not in the list: Yuliana Gatsolaeva, Rose Miranda, Lara Pivodic, Marc Tanghe, Hein van Hout, Roeline H. R. W. Pasman, Mariska Oosterveld-Vlug, Ruth Piers, Anne B. Wichmann, Yvonne Engels, Myrra Vernooij-Dassen, Jo Hockley, Sheila Payne, Suvi Lepp?aho, Ilona Bara?ska, Sophie Pautex, Catherine Bassal, Federica Mammarella, Martina Mercuri, Paola Rossi, Ivan Segat, Agata Stodolska, Eddy Adang, Paula Andreasen, Outi Kuitunen-Kaija, Danni Collingridge Moore, Agnieszka Pac, Violetta Kijowska, Maud ten Koppel, Jenny T. van der Steen, Emilie Morgan de Paula, and the European Association for Palliative Care vzw, European Forum For Primary Care, Age Platform Europe, and Alzheimer Europe. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background: To be able to provide high-quality palliative care, there need to be a number of organizational structures available in the nursing homes. It is unclear to what extent such structures are actually present in nursing homes in Europe. We aim to examine structural indicators for quality of palliative care in nursing homes in Europe and to evaluate the differences in terms of availability of and access to palliative care, infrastructure for residents and families, multidisciplinary meetings and quality improvement initiatives. Methods: A PACE cross-sectional study (2015) of nursing homes in Belgium, England, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Nursing homes (N = 322) were selected in each country via proportional stratified random sampling. Nursing home administrators (N = 305) filled in structured questionnaires on nursing home characteristics. Organization of palliative care was measured using 13 of the previously defined IMPACT structural indicators for quality of palliative care covering four domains: availability of and access to palliative care, infrastructure for residents and families, multidisciplinary meetings and quality improvement initiatives. We calculated structural indicator scores for each country and computed differences in indicator scores between the six countries. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to compute the p-value of each difference. Results: The availability of specialist palliative care teams in nursing homes was limited (6.1–48.7%). In Finland, Poland and Italy, specialist advice was also less often available (35.6–46.9%). Up to 49% of the nursing homes did not provide a dedicated contact person who maintained regular contact with the resident and relatives. The 24/7 availability of opioids for all nursing home residents was low in Poland (37.5%). Conclusions: This study found a large heterogeneity between countries in the organization of palliative care in nursing homes, although a common challenge is ensuring sufficient structural access to specialist palliative care services. Policymakers and health and palliative care organizations can use these structural indicators to identify areas for improvement in the organization of palliative care.
AB - Background: To be able to provide high-quality palliative care, there need to be a number of organizational structures available in the nursing homes. It is unclear to what extent such structures are actually present in nursing homes in Europe. We aim to examine structural indicators for quality of palliative care in nursing homes in Europe and to evaluate the differences in terms of availability of and access to palliative care, infrastructure for residents and families, multidisciplinary meetings and quality improvement initiatives. Methods: A PACE cross-sectional study (2015) of nursing homes in Belgium, England, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Nursing homes (N = 322) were selected in each country via proportional stratified random sampling. Nursing home administrators (N = 305) filled in structured questionnaires on nursing home characteristics. Organization of palliative care was measured using 13 of the previously defined IMPACT structural indicators for quality of palliative care covering four domains: availability of and access to palliative care, infrastructure for residents and families, multidisciplinary meetings and quality improvement initiatives. We calculated structural indicator scores for each country and computed differences in indicator scores between the six countries. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to compute the p-value of each difference. Results: The availability of specialist palliative care teams in nursing homes was limited (6.1–48.7%). In Finland, Poland and Italy, specialist advice was also less often available (35.6–46.9%). Up to 49% of the nursing homes did not provide a dedicated contact person who maintained regular contact with the resident and relatives. The 24/7 availability of opioids for all nursing home residents was low in Poland (37.5%). Conclusions: This study found a large heterogeneity between countries in the organization of palliative care in nursing homes, although a common challenge is ensuring sufficient structural access to specialist palliative care services. Policymakers and health and palliative care organizations can use these structural indicators to identify areas for improvement in the organization of palliative care.
KW - Europe
KW - Nursing home
KW - Organization
KW - PACE
KW - Palliative care
KW - Structural indicators
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113697819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00827-x
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00827-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 34433457
SN - 1472-684X
VL - 20
JO - BMC palliative care
JF - BMC palliative care
IS - 1
M1 - 131
ER -