International journal of older people nursing
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Int J Older People Nurs · Mar 2017
Dying and death within the culture of long-term care facilities in Canada.
To identify the influence of the culture in Canadian long-term care facilities on the awareness of impending death and initiation of a palliative approach to care for residents aged 85 years and older. ⋯ Because strongly held long-term care cultural beliefs underlie care, more timely palliative care for long-term care residents is likely to require the development of an understanding that living and dying are not dichotomous, but rather unfold together from admission until death. Enhanced staff-to-resident ratios and staff training on palliative care will also be necessary to permit long-term care facility staff to focus beyond the currently expected day-to-day care of living residents to provide high-quality end-of-life care throughout the often protracted decline to death for residents of long-term care facilities.