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Discharge planning in end-of-life care

27 February 2020
Clinical
02 February 2020
Volume 29 · Issue 4

Exploring and achieving peoples' preferences for place of care and death are acknowledged to influence the quality of end-of-life care (Department of Health (DH), 2008; 2010; Macleod, 2011, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2015; 2019). Achieving preferred place of death has become a marker of the quality of end-of-life-care (DH, 2010; Macleod, 2011) with existing evidence claiming that most people wish to die at home (Gomes et al, 2012). However, some literature and anecdotal evidence challenges this orthodoxy and proposes that alternatives are needed as the concepts of preference and choice are complex (Hoare et al, 2015; Pollack, 2015). This article will provide a practical overview, explore the key considerations and the role of the nurse in effective discharge planning for patients who have expressed a wish to die at home. This will be done by using the ‘five priorities of care for the dying person' (Leadership Alliance for the Care of the Dying Person (LACDP), 2014) as a framework to promote safe discharge in end-of-life.

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