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Source: Diana Marszalek
415-476-2557
07 December 1998
UCSF RESEARCHERS TO STUDY END-OF-LIFE CARE IN NURSING HOMES
End-of-life care for terminally ill nursing home residents will be the focus of a new $2.1 million study by University of California San Francisco researchers. The study to find new ways to improve care for nursing home residents who are dying will be conducted by Jeanie Kayser-Jones, RN, PhD, FAAN, University of California San Francisco professor of physiological nursing and medical anthropology. The grant comes from the National Institutes of Health. The goal of the five-year study is to better understand the range of clinical and environmental factors that shape the care given dying nursing home residents. Ultimately, the study could lead to better management of symptoms such as pain and improved care for these patients, Kayser-Jones said. The research will focus on patients who are dying or expected to die within six months to one year. Specifically, researchers will identify and analyze the social, cultural, environmental and clinical factors that influence the care of terminally ill nursing home residents. The residents’ and health care providers’ beliefs about death and dying and the way relationships between nursing home staff and residents influence care will be investigated. Researchers will conduct their study through observations and in-depth interviews with terminally ill residents and their families, nursing home staff and physicians. Using event analysis they will closely examine the care of 100 residents who are dying. Co-investigators include: Christine Miaskowski, RN, PhD, UCSF associate professor of physiological nursing; C. Seth Landefeld, MD, UCSF professor of medicine; and Gary McCart, PharmD, professor of clinical pharmacology. The study is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Nursing Research.
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