Place of care and place of death – the frequency of hospital use prior to death and the increased importance of nursing homes in end of life care in Norway

Jorid Kalseth,Kjartan Antun

doi:10.5334/ijic.2819

Abstract

Place of care and place of death – the frequency of hospital use prior to death and the increased importance of nursing homes in end of life care in Norway

Highlights

Care setting and place of death may influence quality of death and dying
The purpose of this study is to investigate trends in place of deaths in Norway during the 25-year period from 1987 to 2011 and to analyze to what extent changing patterns can be predicted by changes in demographics and cause of death
The data covers all deaths in Norway in the years from 1987 to 2011 and includes, for each descendent, information about year of death, place of death, age at death, gender, cause of death, and municipality of residence.The impact of service structure and local context factors on pattern of place of death at municipal level will be analyzed by panel data regression analysis

Summary

Introduction

Care setting and place of death may influence quality of death and dying. Transfers and relocations close to death may be traumatic. A high proportion of hospital deaths may be an indicator of a potentially inappropriate care setting at the end of life. A downward trend in share of hospital deaths is seen in many countries, including Norway. A changing pattern in the place of death may reflect changing demographics and morbidity, as well as changes in service structures and policy towards end of life care. Differences over time and between geographical localities will be investigated in relation to bed capacity in hospitals and in nursing homes as well as other context characteristics of the patient's place of residence. Differences in hospital use towards the end of life between places of death will be investigated

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