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Palliative care in the final week of life of older people in nursing homes: A register-based study
Ersta Sköndal University College, Department of Health Care Sciences.
2015 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Palliativ vård under den sista levnadsveckan för äldre personer på vård- och omsorgsboenden : En registerbaserad studie (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

Background: Current palliative care recommendations stress the right to care according to palliative principles at the end of life for all people in need thereof, regardless of care place and including those who are old. The international literature indicates that residents in nursing homes often do not have access to palliative care competence. Accordingly, insufficient management and lack of communication about end-of-life issues have been reported. There is a scarcity of robust Swedish studies about the quality of care at the end of life in nursing homes.

Aim: To explore the care being provided in the final week of life of older people in nursing homes.

Method: The study used data from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care, of all registered individuals aged 60 and older, who died in nursing homes 2011 and 2012. Variables pertaining to monitoring and treatment of symptoms, end-of-life discussions, and circumstances around death, and individual characteristics of the deceased individuals, were explored with descriptive statistics.

Results: The most common underlying causes of death were circulatory diseases (42.2%) and dementia (22.7%). The most prevalent symptom was pain (58.7%), followed by rattles (42.4%), anxiety (33.0%), confusion (21.8%), shortness of breath (14.0%) and nausea (11.1%). Pain was the symptom with the highest degree of total relief (46.3%), whereas shortness of breath and confusion were totally relieved in 6.1% and 4.3% of all individuals, respectively. The use of valid instruments for symptom assessments was reported for pain in 12.3% and 7.8% for other symptoms. The most prevalent individual prescriptions for injection PRN were for pain treatment (79.5%) and rattles (72.8%). End-of-life discussions were performed with 27.3% of all the deceased individuals, and with 53.9% of their relatives. Of all individuals, 82.1% had someone present at death, and 15.8% died alone. Of the all nursing home resident deaths recorded, 45.3% died in their preferred place.

Conclusion: There were large variations in the degree of relief from the different symptoms in the final week of life. Pain was the most prevalent symptom, and was also the symptom with the highest proportion of total/partial relief. Other symptoms were less prevalent but also less well relieved. The results indicate a need for improvements in palliative care in nursing home settings, focusing management of distressing symptoms and end-of-life discussions.

Abstract [sv]

Bakgrund: Målet om rätt till palliativ vård för alla som behöver, oavsett vårdplats och inkluderande äldre personer. Äldre individer har ofta multisjuklighet, inklusive kognitiv svikt som ställer särskilda krav på kompetens under livets sista tid. Internationella studier indikerar dock att personer som dör på vård- och omsorgsboenden ofta inte får tillgång till palliativ kompetens, med till exempel inadekvat symtomlindring och bristande kommunikation om döden. Robusta svenska studier om innehållet i vården i livets slutskede för personer på vård-och omsorgsboenden saknas.

Syfte: Att beskriva vården under den sista levnadsveckan, för äldre personer på vård-och omsorgsboenden.

Metod: Studien baserades på data från Svenska Palliativregistret av alla registrerade individer > 60 år som avlidit inom vård- och omsorgsboenden 2011 och 2012. Variabler relaterade till symtom, symtomkontroll, brytpunktssamtal och omständigheter kring döden samt individuella karaktärsdata utforskades med deskriptiv statistik.

Resultat: Vanligaste underliggande dödsorsak var cirkulatoriska sjukdomar (42.2%) och demenssjukdomar (22.7%). Mest förekommande symtomet var smärta (58.7%) följt av rosslighet (42.4%), ångest (33.0%), förvirring (21.8%), andfåddhet (14.0%) och illamående (11.1%). Symtomet som lindrades till största del var snärta som helt lindrades för (46.3%) medan andfåddhet och förvirring lindrades helt hos 6.1% respektive 4.3% av individerna. Validerat skattningsinstrument användes för smärta i 12.3% av fallen och i 7.8% för andra symtom. Vanligast förekommande individuella vid behovsordinationen för injektion var för behandling av smärta (79.5%) och mot rosslighet (72.8%).Brytpunktsamtal genomfördes med 27.3% av alla individer och med 53.9% av alla närstående. Önskad dödsplats uppfylldes hos 45.3% av individerna. Av alla individer hade 82.1% någon, i registret valbar, hos sig vid dödsögonblicket och i (15.8%) dog individen ensam.

Slutsats: Det fanns stora variationer i graden av lindring för symtom under sista levnadsveckan. Smärta var vanligast förekommande och även det symtom som till högst grad lindrades helt eller delvis. Andra symtom förekom mer sällan men lindrades även till lägre grad. Resultaten indikerar ett behov av förbättring inom den palliativa vården inom vård- och äldreboenden, fokuserat mot hantering av besvärliga symtom samt brytpunktssamtal.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. , p. 27
Keywords [en]
End-of-life, Nursing home, Older people, Palliative care, Symptom relief
Keywords [sv]
Livets slut, Vårdboende, Äldreboende, Äldre, Palliativ vård, Symtom, Lindring
National Category
Nursing
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-5385OAI: oai:DiVA.org:esh-5385DiVA, id: diva2:948986
Educational program
Master in Health Care Sciences - Palliative Care 120 ECTS
Uppsok
Medicine
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2016-07-21 Created: 2016-07-14 Last updated: 2017-02-15Bibliographically approved

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