A New Approach to the Identification of Palliative Care Needs and Advanced Chronic Patients among Nursing Home Residents

Identifying unmet palliative care needs of nursing home residents: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Many nursing home residents do not receive timely palliative care despite their need and eligibility for such care. Screening tools as well as other methods and guidelines can facilitate early identification of nursing home residents unmet palliative care needs.

AIM

To map and summarise the evidence on identifying unmet palliative care needs of nursing home residents.

METHODS

Any paper reporting on nursing home residents' unmet palliative care needs were eligible for inclusion. CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, APA PsycINFO, and APA PsycArticles and grey literature were systematically searched over two months, February and March 2024. Data were extracted using data extraction forms. Data were synthesised using descriptive analysis and basic content analysis.

RESULTS

Forty six records were included in this review. Nineteen methods, five screening tools, and four guidelines related to identifying residents unmet palliative care needs were identified. Most methods such as the Minimum Data Set and Palliative Care Needs Rounds were implemented as part of an intervention. Limited evidence was identified on what methods healthcare professionals use in daily practice. In total, 117 non-disease specific indicators for identifying residents unmet palliative care needs were identified, with physical indicators such as pain and weight loss being the most represented.

CONCLUSION

While developments have been made related to the concept of 'unmet palliative care needs', a clear definition is required. Evidence-based standardisation of methods for identifying unmet palliative care needs would ensure timely and equitable access to palliative care for nursing home residents worldwide. Achieving this goal requires incorporating screening for unmet palliative care needs into routine care.

Specialised palliative care in nursing homes - Retrospective analysis on the basis of claims data

BACKGROUND

The aim of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of patients with a life limiting illness. In Germany, nursing homes are increasingly the last residence and a common place of death for older people. This renders these institutions as places with a high need for palliative care. However, the frequency of specialised palliative care services in nursing homes in Germany is often low.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is 1) to analyse the types and frequencies of services provided by specialised ambulatory palliative care teams in nursing homes in the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and 2) to examine whether the frequency of specialised palliative services in nursing homes is comparable to patients living in their private homes.

METHODS

The analysis was based on data of the association of statutory health insurance physicians Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Germany), data of the statutory health insurance BARMER, and population data. All patients who received specialised ambulatory palliative care in nursing homes in the years 2015-2017 were included in the analysis. For the comparison of the utilisation of specialised ambulatory palliative care in nursing homes with patients in private households, two comparable groups were created using claims, population data and life-year-mortality tables of the general population. It was assumed that people ≥80 years with a life expectancy of <12 months were potential candidates for the utilisation of palliative care. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square tests.

RESULTS

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 6,096 patients received specialised ambulatory palliative care in the time period 2015 to 2017. Of these, 16.0% (n = 978) were nursing home residents. The median duration of specialised ambulatory palliative care in nursing homes was 12.0 days, for people in private households 27.2 days. The rate of patients receiving specialised ambulatory palliative care in nursing homes was 4.7%, for people in the comparable group in private households it was 9.2% (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Only a small number of nursing home residents received specialised ambulatory palliative care in their last year of life. The rate among those living in their own homes is about twice as high. The results indicate that nursing home residents may have less access to specialised ambulatory palliative care than patients living in private households. Specialised ambulatory palliative care services provision in nursing homes should be improved.

[Advance care planning in nursing homes: scoping review]

Advance care planning is a deliberative process that aims to help patients define goals and preferences for future care and treatment at a times when they have limited decision-making capacity. This study aims to analyze models of advance care planning in elderly individuals living in nursing homes. We reviewed papers published in Cochrane, PubMed and Embase. A total of 26 studies were selected, including a total of 44,131 people over 65 years of age. We analyzed the types of intervention (interviews, videos, workshops, documentation, etc.) and their results derived from the application. We conclude that no study implements a standardized intervention model. These interventions include decision-making (transfers to hospital, resucitation orders) and the adequacy of therapeutic effort (antibiotherapy, nutrition, serotherapy, etc.). Other outcomes are implementation barriers (time and training).

The prognostic value of the NECPAL instrument, Palliative Prognostic Index, and PROFUND index in elderly residents of nursing homes with advanced chronic condition

BACKGROUND

It is essential to assess the need for palliative care and the life prognosis of elderly nursing home residents with an advanced chronic condition, and the NECPAL ICO-CCOMS©4.0 prognostic instrument may be adequate for both purposes. The objective of this study was to examine the predictive capacity of NECPAL, the Palliative Prognosis Index, and the PROFUND index in elderly residents with advanced chronic condition with and without dementia, comparing their results at different time points.

METHODS

This prospective observational study was undertaken in eight nursing homes, following the survival of 146 residents with advanced chronic condition (46.6% with dementia) at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The capacity of the three instruments to predict mortality was evaluated by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), with 95% confidence interval, for the global population and separately for residents with and without dementia.

RESULTS

The mean age of residents was 84.63 years (± 8.989 yrs); 67.8% were female. The highest predictive capacity was found for PROFUND at 3 months (95%CI: 0.526-0.756; p = 0.016), for PROFUND and NECPAL at 12 months (non-significant; AUC > 0.5), and NECPAL at 24 months (close-to-significant (AUC = 0.624; 95% CI: 0.499-0.750; p = 0.053). The highest capacity at 12 months was obtained using PROFUND in residents with dementia (AUC = 0.698; 95%CI: 0.566-0.829; p = 0.003) and NECPAL in residents without dementia (non-significant; AUC = 0.649; 95%CI: 0.432-0.867; p = 0.178). Significant differences in AUC values were observed between PROFUND at 12 (p = 0.017) and 24 (p = 0.028) months.

CONCLUSIONS

PROFUND offers the most accurate prediction of survival in elderly care home residents with advanced chronic condition overall and in those with dementia, especially over the short term, whereas NECPAL ICO-CCOMS©4.0 appears to be the most useful to predict the long-term survival of residents without dementia. These results support early evaluation of the need for palliative care in elderly care home residents with advanced chronic condition.

Identifying Nursing Home Residents with Unmet Palliative Care Needs: A Systematic Review of Screening Tool Measurement Properties

OBJECTIVES

Despite common use of palliative care screening tools in other settings, the performance of these tools in the nursing home has not been well established; therefore, the purpose of this review is to (1) identify palliative care screening tools validated for nursing home residents and (2) critically appraise, compare, and summarize the quality of measurement properties.

DESIGN

Systematic review of measurement properties consistent with Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidelines.

SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS

Embase (Ovid), MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL (EBSCO), and PsycINFO (Ovid) were searched from inception to May 2022. Studies that (1) reported the development or evaluation of a palliative care screening tool and (2) sampled older adults living in a nursing home were included.

METHODS

Two reviewers independently screened, selected, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias.

RESULTS

We identified only 1 palliative care screening tool meeting COSMIN criteria, the NECesidades Paliativas (NEC-PAL, equivalent to palliative needs in English), but evidence for use with nursing home residents was of low quality. The NEC-PAL lacked robust testing of measurement properties such as reliability, sensitivity, and specificity in the nursing home setting. Construct validity through hypothesis testing was adequate but only reported in 1 study. Consequently, there is insufficient evidence to guide practice. Broadening the criteria further, this review reports on 3 additional palliative care screening tools identified during the search and screening process but which were excluded during full-text review for various reasons.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Given the unique care environment of nursing homes, we recommend future studies to validate available tools and develop new instruments specifically designed for nursing home use. In the meantime, we recommend that clinicians consider the evidence presented here and choose a screening instrument that best meets their needs.

Attitudes and influencing factors of nursing assistants towards hospice and palliative care nursing in chinese nursing homes: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Hospice and palliative care nursing (HPCN) in China is mainly available at public primary care institutions, where nursing homes (NHs) are rarely involved. Nursing assistants (NAs) play an essential role in HPCN multidisciplinary teams, but little is known about their attitudes towards HPCN and related factors.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate NAs' attitudes towards HPCN with an indigenised scale in Shanghai. A total of 165 formal NAs were recruited from 3 urban and 2 suburban NHs between October 2021 and January 2022. The questionnaire was composed of four parts: demographic characteristics, attitudes (20 items with four sub-concepts), knowledge (nine items), and training needs (nine items). Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression were performed to analyse NAs' attitudes, influencing factors, and their correlations.

RESULTS

A total of 156 questionnaires were valid. The mean score of attitudes was 72.44 ± 9.56 (range:55-99), with a mean item score of 3.6 ± 0.5 (range:1-5). The highest score rate was "perception of the benefits for the life quality promotion" (81.23%), and the lowest score rate was "perception of the threats from the worsening conditions of advanced patients" (59.92%). NAs' attitudes towards HPCN were positively correlated with their knowledge score (r = 0.46, P < 0.01) and training needs (r = 0.33, P < 0.01). Marital status (β = 0.185), previous training experience (β = 0.201), location of NHs (β = 0.193), knowledge (β = 0.294), and training needs (β = 0.157) for HPCN constituted significant predictors of attitudes (P < 0.05), which explained 30.8% of the overall variance.

CONCLUSION

NAs' attitudes towards HPCN were moderate, but their knowledge should be improved. Targeted training is highly recommended to improve the participation of positive and enabled NAs and to promote high-quality universal coverage of HPCN in NHs.

Information and Advance Care Directives for End-of-Life Residents with and without Dementia in Nursing Homes

BACKGROUND

Communication and advance care directives may be affected by the presence of dementia. We sought to describe the information and end-of-life preferences provided to nursing homes residents and their families.

METHODS

Trained nurses collected information from 124 residents randomly selected with palliative care needs from eight nursing homes.

RESULTS

A total of 54.4% of the residents with dementia had been provided with information about their state of health, compared to 92.5% of the residents without dementia (p < 0.01); family members exhibited no differences regarding information (p = 0.658), regardless of whether the resident was cognitively impaired. Most advance care interventions remained unexplored, except for cases where a transfer to hospital (81.5%) or serotherapy (69.4%) was desired. Decisions regarding palliative sedation (p = 0.017) and blood transfusion (p = 0.019) were lower among residents with dementia.

CONCLUSIONS

Residents, especially residents with dementia, are provided with limited information and their preferences are inadequately explored.

Cultural adaptation and validation of the SPICT-ES™ instrument to identify palliative care needs in Chilean older adults

INTRODUCTION

Chile presents a context of an aging population and increased life expectancy, leading to many older adults (OA) needing palliative care (PC) during the course of their illness. The SPICT-ES™ is an instrument used to clinically evaluate patients with advanced chronic illness (ACI) to detect PC needs. Validating this instrument in Chile will allow for early detection of OA at risk of clinical deterioration who require this care.

OBJECTIVE

Adapt and validate the SPICT-ES™ instrument to identify PC needs among OA in Chile.

METHODOLOGY

Study following quantitative design - cross-sectional, descriptive, and developed in three stages: cultural adaptation by expert judgment; preliminary test of the SPICT-ESCH instrument to evaluate reliability and application of the SPICT-ESCH in 292 patients, to determine internal consistency and stability of the instrument. This study was done between January 2019 and July 2021. Participants in the study were nurses and OA from 5 health centers in Santiago, Chile. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Universidad de los Andes.

RESULTS

In the cultural adaptation with content validity, following expert judgment, all items were kept. Semantic modifications were made on only three of them. A Lawshe coefficient of 84% which determined SPICT-ESCH as an acceptable instrument for the following stages of validation and reliability. The pilot for the new version in Chile, SPICT-ESCH, determined stability and consistency over time, with a Pearson correlation coefficient (ρ) of 0.9167 (p < 0.0001). In the final application of the instrument, to fortify the psychometric evaluation (n = 292) we identified 53.4% positive SPICT-ESCH. The logistical model via OR (< 0.001) showed that the items predicted the positivity of the instrument. The internal consistency obtained was 0.8662, confirming a correlation and intercorrelation between items. 100% of nurses evaluated the SPICT-ESCH as a useful and feasible instrument.

CONCLUSION

SPICT-ESCH includes all the relevant indicators for adequate clinical identification of PC needs among the Chilean OA population, who could Benefit from the early introduction of palliative support contributing to their quality of life.

Cancer patients in Palliative Care: occurrences related to venipuncture and hypodermoclysis

OBJECTIVE

to identify the occurrences related to peripheral venipuncture and hypodermoclysis among patients hospitalized in a general hospital and in an exclusive hospital institution for the care of patients in palliative cancer care.

METHOD

an observational, descriptive and multicenter study. The consecutive and non-probabilistic sample consisted of 160 cancer patients hospitalized in Palliative Care. The outcome variable corresponded to the occurrences and complications related to each type of puncture. A questionnaire containing the sociodemographic and clinical variables and a structured script for monitoring and daily evaluation of the puncture were used. Descriptive statistics were employed for data analysis.

RESULTS

the occurrences related to venipuncture at a general hospital were blood soiling at catheter insertion (17.4%) and expired use period (15.8%), while at a specific service for the care of patients under palliative care they were expired use period (32%) followed by infiltration (18.9%). As for hypodermoclysis, there were two subcutaneous punctures with phlogistic signs (1.0%) at the general hospital and a hematoma at the catheter insertion site (0.5%). At the specific service for the care of patients under palliative care there were three subcutaneous punctures with phlogistic signs (5.7%).

CONCLUSION

the number of occurrences related to peripheral venipuncture was higher than those related to hypodermoclysis.

Cancer patients in Palliative Care: occurrences related to venipuncture and hypodermoclysis

Objective:

to identify the occurrences related to peripheral venipuncture and hypodermoclysis among patients hospitalized in a general hospital and in an exclusive hospital institution for the care of patients in palliative cancer care.

Method:

an observational, descriptive and multicenter study. The consecutive and non-probabilistic sample consisted of 160 cancer patients hospitalized in Palliative Care. The outcome variable corresponded to the occurrences and complications related to each type of puncture. A questionnaire containing the sociodemographic and clinical variables and a structured script for monitoring and daily evaluation of the puncture were used. Descriptive statistics were employed for data analysis.

Results:

the occurrences related to venipuncture at a general hospital were blood soiling at catheter insertion (17.4%) and expired use period (15.8%), while at a specific service for the care of patients under palliative care they were expired use period (32%) followed by infiltration (18.9%). As for hypodermoclysis, there were two subcutaneous punctures with phlogistic signs (1.0%) at the general hospital and a hematoma at the catheter insertion site (0.5%). At the specific service for the care of patients under palliative care there were three subcutaneous punctures with phlogistic signs (5.7%).

Conclusion:

the number of occurrences related to peripheral venipuncture was higher than those related to hypodermoclysis.

Pacientes con cáncer en cuidados paliativos: eventos relacionados con la venopunción y la hipodermoclisis

Resumen Objetivo: identificar los eventos relacionados con la venopunción periférica y la hipodermoclisis en pacientes hospitalizados en un hospital general y en un hospital que atiende exclusivamente a pacientes en cuidados paliativos oncológicos. Método: estudio observacional, descriptivo y multicéntrico. La muestra consecutiva y no probabilística estuvo compuesta por 160 pacientes oncológicos hospitalizados que reciben cuidados paliativos. La variable resultado correspondió a los eventos y complicaciones relacionados con cada tipo de punción. Se utilizó un cuestionario con variables sociodemográficas y clínicas y una guía estructurada para el seguimiento diario y la evaluación de la punción. Se utilizó estadística descriptiva para el análisis de datos. Resultados: los eventos relacionados con la venopunción en un hospital general fueron contaminación de sangre en la inserción del catéter (17,4%) y catéter vencido (15,8%), mientras que en un hospital específico que atiende exclusivamente a pacientes en cuidados paliativos oncológicos fueron catéter vencido (32%) seguido de infiltración (18,9%). En cuanto a la hipodermoclisis, hubo dos punciones subcutáneas con signos flogísticos (1,0%) en hospital general y un hematoma en el lugar de inserción del catéter (0,5%). En el hospital en un hospital que atiende exclusivamente a pacientes en cuidados paliativos oncológicos hubo tres punciones subcutáneas con signos flogísticos (5,7%). Conclusión: los eventos relacionados con la venopunción periférica fueron mayores que los relacionados con la hipodermoclisis.