The authors of a recent study published in the Journal of the American Directors Association aimed to promote quality end-of-life (EOL) care for nursing home residents, through the establishment of advance care plan (ACP) and introduction of a new care pathway” for new comorbidities, including pain. The authors enrolled 76 older nursing home residents and monitored the ratio of clinical to emergency admissions, ACP compliance rate, average length of stay (ALOS) in both acute hospital and an extended-care facility, and chronic pain conditions. The study results indicate that “nearly 40% of EOL patients could be managed entirely in an extended-care setting without compromising the quality of care and survival.”
