Palliative care in nursing homes: Podcast with Caroline Stephens

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Podcast

Many in palliative care (including us) have argued that the default care model in nursing homes should be a palliative approach. Revealing indeed, therefore, to talk with nurse researcher Caroline Stephens about her publication in JAGS where she studied palliative care-eligibility and POLST completion for nearly 200 residents of 3 San Francisco area nursing homes, finding: 70% of nursing home residents were palliative care-eligible, but other than 2 patients on hospice, none were receiving consultative palliative care 99% of residents had completed a POLST, but almost no one remembered filling it out Listen to the podcast for more, including answer to questions: What does palliative-care eligible mean? How could they fill out a POLST but not remember it, did they all have dementia? What is Campbell's law, and does it have anything to do with his soup? We're joined on this podcast by Sei Lee, MD, regular guest host and as it happens senior author on the nursing home study, and Lynn Flint, MD, palliative care physician with extensive experience working in nursing home settings. Enjoy!