[Improving communication in nursing homes: the mySupport study]

Abstract

This article aims to explore the feasibility and impact of a quality improvement project aimed to assist nursing home staff in supporting family carers when they need to make difficult decisions about end-of-life care for their relative with advanced dementia. During the three-year pandemic period 2019-2022, Italy joined the mySupport study with 2 Piedmontese nursing homes. The mySupport study is a transnational project, which involved 6 European and extra-European countries (United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Canada). Family carers were engaged in trained nurse-led family care conferences on care decisions at the end of life and received written resources. The project implementation required flexibility and to face unexpected events with poor resources, which were overcome by the establishment of trusting relationships with family carers and collaboration among nurses. The educational intervention appears to facilitate the transition towards a palliative-oriented approach, by promoting family understanding of dementia, knowledge of residents' and family carers' care preferences, and shared decision-making.