Palliative Care Development in European Care Homes and Nursing Homes: Application of a Typology of Implementation.
Katherine Froggatt, Sheila Payne, Hazel Morbey and 6 others
PMID 28412166WHAT IT FOUND
Palliative care in European care homes varied widely: no country had it in all homes, and 55% of countries had no national or regional activity.
The paper maps implementation structures, not patient outcomes.
Key findings
01At national or regional level, 55% of countries had no evidence of any palliative care activity for care homes.
02At implementation-support level, 28% of countries had all four activity types, 28% had none, and 21% had only one.
03No country had evidence of palliative care in all care homes; micro-level activity was absent in 17% of countries and extensive in 24%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The care-home level was judged without central registries, so the authors describe the assessments as crude. Much of the data came from expert informants and documents, not direct observation of homes, so regional differences may distort the picture. The paper reports structures and activities, not patient outcomes, so it cannot say whether any arrangement improves care. Educational programs were not described consistently in length or curriculum. The amount and quality of data varied between countries.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that a palliative care programme improves resident outcomes. The paper maps national and organizational activity, not patient care results.