Identifying Palliative Care Needs Among Older Adults in Nonclinical Settings.
Elissa Kozlov, Anna Cai, Jo Anne Sirey and 2 others
PMID 29792039WHAT IT FOUND
28.8% of older adults attending senior centers screened positive for unmet palliative care needs.
Lower education, living alone, and more medical conditions were associated with positive screens. Goals-of-care concerns were the most common domain.
Key findings
0163 of 219 older adults (28.8%) screened positive for unmet palliative care needs.
02Goals of care was the most frequent positive domain (166, 75.1%), followed by physical concerns (59, 25.7%) and emotional concerns (50, 21.8%).
03Lower education, living alone, and more medical conditions were associated with positive screens; age, gender, marital status, and race were not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample came from older adults who attended senior center activities, so it may not represent older adults who do not attend such programs. The study was limited to 5 senior centers in 2 New York City boroughs, so the results may not apply to other communities or nonurban older adults. The study did not collect data on whether screen-positive participants followed through with palliative care referrals. Data were missing for 40 participants, and analyses excluded cases with missing variables, so the number analysed varied by outcome. The palliative care screener was newly developed, and this paper reports screening results rather than a tested palliative care intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that senior-center screening improves palliative care access or outcomes. It measured screen-positive rates and associations, and did not follow whether referrals were completed.