Understanding bereaved family members' dissatisfaction with end-of-life care in nursing homes.

With increasing numbers of older adults identifying a nursing home (NH) as their final place of care, it is important to assess the quality of dying in this setting and understand factors that impact family members' dissatisfaction with end-of-life care. A retrospective bereaved family member survey (N = 208) was conducted in 21 NHs located in urban areas of central Canada. Bereaved family members who were dissatisfied with care identified significantly more concerns in all domains assessed and were more likely to have problems with: (a) receiving confusing information from nursing staff about the resident's care, including medical treatments; (b) receiving inadequate information from nursing staff; and (c) feeling that end-of-life care was different than they had expected. Since the quality of communication between nurses, residents, and family members is the main factor that determines families' dissatisfaction with care, strategies and interventions aimed at reducing unmet information needs will be vital to improving end-of-life care in NHs. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.