Nursing home residents, family members, and staff members views about a good death and preferred place of death for a nursing home resident

Nursing home residents, family members, and staff members views about a good death and preferred place of death for a nursing home resident
Omega-Journal of Death and Dying; by Janet Sopcheck, Ruth M. Tappen; 2/25
Our study ... revealed that residents, like family members and staff members, had mixed opinions of the place of death for the NH resident, highlighting the importance of having advance care planning sessions with residents and their families to gain an understanding regarding their choices. Our study found the predominant and common qualities across the three participant groups of a good death include painless or pain-free, without suffering, peaceful, quiet, and dying in my sleep. Interestingly, almost one-fifth of the participants disagreed with the term good death, offering that death is not good as the person is no longer alive. Based on this study’s finding, using the term a good death in research and in advance care planning sessions may not be relevant or appropriate and instead focus on what care is necessary to promote a natural death, as mentioned by a few participants.