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Hospice care for patients with dementia
Susan L Mitchell1, Dan K Kiely, Susan C Miller
1Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, Boston, Massachusetts 02131, USA. smitchell@hrca.harvard.edu
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|May 19, 2007
Summary
Hospice care quality for dementia patients is generally high, similar to cancer and other chronic conditions. Most families rate care as excellent, indicating consistent quality across terminal diagnoses.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Palliative Care
- Public Health
Background:
- Dementia is a leading cause of death in the USA, yet few patients receive hospice care.
- Characterizing dementia hospice recipients and the quality of care provided is limited.
- The Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) survey is a national benchmarking tool for hospice quality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe hospice recipients over 65 who died with dementia.
- To examine family evaluations of hospice care for dementia patients.
- To compare dementia hospice care quality with cancer and other chronic terminal conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a national repository of 2005 Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) survey data.
- Analyzed 77,123 surveys from 796 hospices nationwide.
- Compared hospice recipients with dementia (n=8,686) against those with cancer (n=35,693) and other chronic diseases (n=32,744).
Main Results:
- Decedents with dementia were more likely to be over 85, female, and have hospice stays exceeding 180 days.
- Family evaluations of hospice care quality did not significantly differ across dementia, cancer, or other chronic disease groups.
- Approximately 75% of families in all groups perceived overall hospice care quality as excellent.
Conclusions:
- Hospice care quality for older adults is generally high and consistent across major terminal diagnoses, including dementia.
- While overall quality is rated highly, opportunities for improvement in hospice care exist.
- Further research can explore specific interventions to enhance hospice experiences for dementia patients.
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