None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this study is to describe a sample of residential aged care facility (RACF) residents who died in hospital (in emergency, in the acute ward or in the palliative care unit) or at the RACF to quantify easily measurable components of quality end-of-life care. Specific objectives are as follows: 1. To understand the sociodemographic details of end-of-life care patients from residential aged care facilities, including diagnosis, age, sex, cultural and linguistically diverse background, and type of RACF placement. 2. To describe quality indicators of end-of-life care in patients from residential aged care facilities, such as the presence of an advanced care directive, congruence of place of death with preferences, and symptom management. 3. To understand the specialist palliative care and end-of-life care needs of patients from residential aged care facilities, including level of engagement with the various arms of the specialist palliative care service and use of end-of-life care medications. 4. To understand the factors associated with transfer from a residential aged care facility to hospital for end-of-life care. 5. To understand barriers to quality end-of-life care in residential aged care facilities.
Interventions
Timeframe of retrospective data review: 1st July 2022 to 30th June 2024
Specialist community palliative care referral, which is a standard practice that residents at an aged care facility may access regardless of their involvement in this study. This involves at least one-on-one face-to-face consultation by a specialist palliative care clinical nurse consultant and/or specialist palliative medicine physician. During this review as part of standard routine clinical practice a patient-assessed and
Timeframe of retrospective data review: 1st July 2022 to 30th June 2024 Specialist community palliative care referral, which is a standard practice that residents at an aged care facility may access regardless of their involvement in this study. This involves at least one-on-one face-to-face consultation by a specialist palliative care clinical nurse consultant and/or specialist palliative medicine physician. During this review as part of standard routine clinical practice a patient-assessed and a physician-assessed score is recorded for symptom severity using the Palliative Care Problem Severity Score (PCPSS) and the Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS). Based on this assessment a decision may be made to prescribe medicines directed towards symptom management and comfort care and we will record if opioids, benzodiazepines, anti-emetics, antipsychotics or anti-secretory agents were prescribed to the patient. This retrospective data review will include review of the medicines recorded/prescribed by the community palliative care team for all patients admitted to the community palliative care service.
Sponsors
Cabrini Health
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Age greater than or equal to 65 years Residing in residential aged care facility Death between 1st July 2022 and 30th June 2024 at a Cabrini Health site or who were admitted to the Cabrini Palliative Homecare service at their residential aged care facility at the time of death
Exclusion criteria
Death at a non-Cabrini health service our outside of the residential aged care facility
Outcome results
None listed