Dying in Nursing Homes and LongTerm Care: A Mini-Review

Little is known about end-of-life conditions in Long Term Care (LTC) facilities. Comparatively, palliative care has expanded considerably into the Nursing Home (NH) setting in recent years: U. S. NH-hospice residents has more than tripled between 1996 and 2004, from 13000 to 41000 [1]. Palliative care has been shown to provide high-quality end-of-life care and offer benefits, such as reduced hospitalizations especially in the final 30 days of life, and improved pain management in NH. The provision of NH hospice also has been shown to have positive effects on non-hospice residents, suggesting indirect benefits on NH clinical practices.