Why do some care home residents die in hospital?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Why do some care home residents die in hospital? Understanding factors, processes and experiences.
IRAS ID
213777
Contact name
Scott Murray
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, days
Research summary
Why do care home residents die in hospital? Understanding factors, processes and experiences.
The research aims to explore end of life care in care homes. It will focus on care home residents who are admitted to hospital and die. We will seek to explore the factors that influence admission in order to determine ways in which care can be improved both in the care home and in hospital.
This issue is important as it is recognised that transitions in care at the end of life can be distressing and burdensome to patients.
Multiple factors may influence the decision to admit to hospital. Previous research has identified unpredictable illness trajectories and uncertainty regarding the nature of the decline. Other work has suggested that communication of advance care plans, lack of resources within care homes, family engagement and staff skills may all influence decision making. Our aim is to explore further the impact of each of these factors to enable all those involved to improve care provided at end of life.
Hospital records of care home residents who died in the Western General Hospital and Royal Infirmary Edinburgh over a 6 month period will be reviewed. Information such as demographics, care home, past medical history will be recorded along with information about the admission. All details will be anonymised.
A sample of cases will be selected for more in-depth review. In these cases, care home manager, care home staff who looked after the patient and informal carers (relatives and next of kin) will be invited for interview. A maximum of three interviews will be carried out per case, up to 21 total interviews. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed verbatim. Patient and participant identifiable information will be anonymised. The themes developing in the interviews will be analysed.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
17/SS/0089
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion