Systematic Review: Palliative Care Screening Tools for Nursing Home Residents

Palliative care in nursing homes can improve quality of life and increase patient/family satisfaction while decreasing symptoms and healthcare costs. Despite these positive outcomes, nursing home residents are not receiving palliative care services equivalent to the high prevalence of chronic life-limiting disease. A key barrier to palliative care delivery in nursing homes is the lack of a ‘gold standard’ to identify residents with unmet palliative care needs. There is no synthesis of studies regarding this topic. This systematic review aimed to determine the measurement properties of palliative care screening tools developed to identify palliative care needs among nursing home residents.