%0 Journal Article
%T Pneumonia care and the nursing home: a qualitative descriptive study of resident and family member perspectives
%A Soo Chan Carusone
%A Mark Loeb
%A Lynne Lohfeld
%J BMC Geriatrics
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2318-6-2
%X A qualitative descriptive study design was used. Participants were residents and family members of residents treated for pneumonia drawn from a larger randomized controlled trial of a clinical pathway to manage nursing home-acquired pneumonia on-site. A total of 14 in-depth interviews were conducted. Interview data were analyzed using the editing style, described by Miller and Crabtree, to identify key themes.Both residents and family members preferred that pneumonia be treated in the nursing home, where possible. They both felt that caring and attention are key aspects of care which are more easily accessible in the nursing home setting. However, residents felt that staff or doctors should make the decision whether to hospitalize them, whereas family members wanted to be consulted or involved in the decision-making process.These findings suggest that interventions to reduce hospitalization of nursing home residents with pneumonia are consistent with resident and family member preferences.The demand for long-term care in facilities is increasing in response to changing demographics and social values. As of 2000, an estimated 46 percent of Americans 65 years old will spend time in a nursing home before they die. By 2020, the total number of older adults using nursing home care in the United States is expected to more than double [1].The functional dependence and clinical complexity of health problems that long-term care facility (LTCF) residents have are also increasing. In 1997, the United States' National Nursing Home Survey found that 75% of elderly nursing home residents needed help with three or more activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, transfer from bed to chair, toileting), and that 44% had difficulty with both bowel and bladder continence [2]. Although many LTCF residents are currently transferred to hospital for diagnostic tests or to receive acute medical services, fiscal pressures, improved technology, and complications associated with ho
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2318/6/2