Abstract
Background: Studies have demonstrated the strong association between increased end-of-life homecare nursing use and reduced acute care utilization. However, little research has described the utilization patterns of end-of-life homecare nursing and how this differs by region and community size. Methods: A retrospective population-based cohort study of cancer decedents from Ontario, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia was conducted between 2004 and 2009. Provinces linked administrative databases which provide data about homecare nursing use for the last 6 months of life for each cancer decedent. Among weekly users of homecare nursing in their last six months of life, we describe the proportion of patients receiving end-of-life homecare nursing by province and community size. Results: Our cohort included 83,746 cancer decedents across 3 provinces. Patients receiving end-of-life nursing among homecare nursing users increased from weeks −26 to −1 before death by: 78% to 93% in British Columbia, 40% to 81% in Ontario, and 52% to 91% in Nova Scotia. In all 3 provinces, the smallest community size had the lowest proportion of patients using end-of-life nursing compared to the second largest community size, which had the highest proportion. Conclusions: Differences in end-of-life homecare nursing use are much larger between provinces than between community sizes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 134-139 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Health Policy |
| Volume | 122 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (grant number 700689 ) and also supported by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s Applied Research in Cancer Control (grant number 019789 ). The study used databases maintained by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, which receives funding from the ON Ministry of Health and Long Term Care . The British Columbia Cancer Agency and the BC Ministry of Health approved access to and use of the data facilitated by Population Data BC for this study. Portions of the data used in this report were made available by the NS Department of Health and Wellness and the Population Health Research Unit (now known as Health Data NS) of Dalhousie University. The opinions, results, and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding and data providing sources.
Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (grant number 700689) and also supported by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's Applied Research in Cancer Control (grant number 019789). The study used databases maintained by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, which receives funding from the ON Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. The British Columbia Cancer Agency and the BC Ministry of Health approved access to and use of the data facilitated by Population Data BC for this study. Portions of the data used in this report were made available by the NS Department of Health and Wellness and the Population Health Research Unit (now known as Health Data NS) of Dalhousie University. The opinions, results, and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding and data providing sources.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s)
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Health Policy
