{
  "abstract": "Objectives To investigate why residents of residential aged care homes (RACH) are transferred to hospital for end-of-life care (EoLC).Methods We audited electronic health records at one tertiary referral centre hospital (New South Wales, Australia) from 1 June 2021 to 30 May 2023.Results Over a 2 year period, there were 2535 presentations to the emergency department (ED) from RACH, of which 45% were transferred back to RACH, 9% died in ED and 46% were admitted to hospital. Only 17% of those admitted were referred to palliative care, with an average delay of 3 days. The most common reasons for admission were falls, shortness of breath and sepsis. Most patients were in extremis at the time of referral, with an average time to death of 3 days; this was the most common barrier to returning patients to RACH (48%). In other cases (30%), the desired place of care was hospital or there was an urgent reason for admission, for example, fracture requiring surgery.Conclusions Once RACH patients are admitted to hospital for EoLC, there is little time to influence the trajectory of care. Future efforts should focus on supporting care in RACH and providing EoLC in situ.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Nicole Cairns"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Therese Hayden"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Jeanette Lacey"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Ellen Sweeney"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Orlaith Finucane"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Palliative and Supportive Care, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia",
        "SMPH, The University of Newcastle, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "John Richard Attia"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Nursing home resident deaths in a tertiary care hospital",
  "uid": "e3ae5bd8-d5ed-516e-aff4-e62195570d6a"
}