Staff Perspectives on Hospice Services in Nursing Homes

Principal Investigator: Anne Bower
Period: July 2005 - June 2008
Funded by: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Abstract: The purpose of this project is to learn about the relationship between hospice and nursing homes front line staff and how the interaction between them shapes and influences the delivery of hospice services to residents. Drawing on theory and method from cultural anthropology, the research seeks to learn the esperience of providing hospice care from the perspective of both hospice and nursing home staff, and to explore the meaning this experience holds for both segments. Specially, the research seeks (1) to identify and define the circumstances and conditions that the two segments regard as meaningful in the delivery of hospice services in a long-term care facility, (2) to identify and explore both segments' nneds and wants in providing such care, (3) to explore the tow segments' perceptions and understandings of the other segment, and (4) to learn what the two segments believe to be the critical pathwyas and barriers to providing quality end-of-life care to dying nursing home residents.