Improving Palliative Care in Nursing Homes

Laurie Blanchard, B.A., MLS in the Info Long-Term Care blog In August 2006, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation (the Foundation) awarded the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) a planning grant to develop strategies for providing palliative care in nursing home settings. The purpose of the planning grant was three-fold: 1) Assess the need for palliative care in the nursing home setting; 2) Evaluate effective approaches to meeting the need; and 3) Develop a practical strategy for extending palliative care services to nursing homeresidents. This report to the Foundation reviews the needs assessment conducted by project researchers and describes our findings. The need for extending palliative care services to nursing facilities is compelling, and the report includes suggestions for future initiatives in this area. http://www.capc.org/support-from-capc/capc_publications/nqf-crosswalk.pdf