Fewer than One Fifth of Nursing Homes Have End-of-Life Care Programs

Surprising new findings reveal that fewer than 20 percent of nursing homes provide end-of-life care programs, even though roughly 25 percent of all deaths in America occur in nursing homes.

The data, gathered during the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, was analyzed by the Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS), the research division of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

Researchers discovered that facilities were more likely to have end-of-life care programs if they had specialty programs for hospice, pain management or dementia care. They also found a strong correlation between end-of-life program participation and staff training for end-of-life care services.

Helaine Resnick, the director of research at IFAS, observed that the key to expanding end-of-life care program participation could very well be providing appropriate staff training. Providers also need to consider the professional value that end-of-life care training and participation offers to both staff and residents.