What Are the Benefits of Dying in a Nursing Home?

As people age, diseases progress and death becomes imminent, nursing homes can be a positive place for dying. Though it's difficult to find any benefits when one dies, passing away in a safe, secure, caring environment often makes the process of death more comfortable and easier for all involved.

Considerations

• Because nursing home employees deal with death and dying on a daily basis, they often receive special training to become more comfortable with the process, gain more knowledge in their role as health care providers, and employ skills needed for end-of-life care and bereavement support. Many nursing homes also maintain policies regarding compassionate end-of-life care, pain management and familial support.

Features

• You may be familiar with the terms of hospice care, but did you know it can be delivered in many nursing homes? Hospice care is typically available to those who have less than six months to live. As hospice is a focus on the care and not a cure, it is an active process meant to provide good symptom control, pain management, and relief from distressing ailments. Hospice care is conducted by interdisciplinary teams so that patients can comfortably participate in their lives and remain coherent and functioning while surrounding themselves with people who care about their well-being and the well-being of their loved ones.

More Features

• Nursing homes can also provide palliative care, which, defined by the World Health Organization, is the "active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment." Palliative care helps the patient and his or her loved ones manage physical pain, emotional turmoil and spiritual issues. Similar to hospice care, the goal is to provide dying patients with the best quality of life possible. However, care can be provided to people with fatal and incurable diseases who have life expectancies longer than six months.

Misconceptions

• For many, the words "nursing home" bring about thoughts of neglect and abuse. Thankfully, in most cases, this is far from the gentle, respectful care provided in long-term care facilities. In general, people choose to work in nursing homes because of their compassion, concern and ability to cope with difficult situations involving aging, illness and death. Most nursing home employees not only are able to professionally interact with the residents and their families, they also are able to develop personal relationships and treat patients like family.

Benefits

• Nursing home staff members generally have access to pain medicines and adaptive equipment used to make patients more comfortable. The staff usually consists of doctors, nurses, clergy people, nutritionists, therapists and more. Having the ability to consult teams of professionals can make the process of dying a little more comfortable for patients and their loved ones.