Large-scale cross-sectional study to examine end-of-life care of deceased residents in care or nursing homes in Europe
Large scale EU comparative effectiveness research in palliative care, in particular for older people, hardly exists. Considering the large and growing challenges associated with aging in all European countries, there is an urgent need to build a robust evidence base that can inform the development of aging policies in an international comparative perspective.
The objectives of this study are:
- To describe and compare the effectiveness of health care systems with and without formal palliative care structures for care or nursing homes in six EU countries in terms of patient and family outcomes –quality of dying, quality of life- quality of palliative care, and cost-effectiveness, and in terms of staff knowledge, practices, and attitudes;
- To identify cross-country and country-specific care structures and processes related to desired outcomes, in order to identify best palliative care practices.
PACE will perform a representative cross-sectional study of deaths in 48 care or nursing homes in each country (BE, UK, IT, FI, PL, NL) identifying at least 1152 deceased residents across countries.