Continuous Palliative Sedation Until Death: The Development of a Practice Protocol for Nursing Homes.

Objectives: Challenges inherent in the practice of continuous palliative sedation until death appear to be particularly pervasive in nursing homes. We aimed to develop a protocol to improve the quality of the practice in Belgian nursing homes.

Methods: The development of the protocol was based on the Medical Research Council Framework and made use of the findings of a systematic review of existing improvement initiatives and focus groups with 71 health care professionals [palliative care physicians, general practitioners (GPs), and nursing home staff] identifying perceived barriers to the use of continuous palliative sedation until death in nursing homes. The protocol was then reviewed and refined by another 70 health care professionals (palliative care physicians, geriatricians, GPs, and nursing home staff) through 10 expert panels.

Results: The final protocol was signed off by expert panels after 2 consultation rounds in which the remaining issues were ironed out. The protocol encompassed 7 sequential steps and is primarily focused on clarification of the medical and social situation, communication with all care providers involved and with the resident and/or relatives, the organization of care, the actual performance of continuous sedation, and the supporting of relatives and care providers during and after the procedure. Although consistent with existing guidelines, our protocol describes more comprehensively recommendations about coordination and collaboration practices in nursing homes as well as specific matters such as how to communicate with fellow residents and give them the opportunity to say goodbye in some way to the person who is dying.

Conclusions And Implications: This study succeeded in developing a practice protocol for continuous palliative sedation until death adapted to the specific context of nursing homes. Before implementing it, future research should focus on developing profound implementation strategies and on thoroughly evaluating its effectiveness.