Publications by authors named "Silvia Finetti"
Background: Barriers to palliative care still exist in long-term care settings for older people, which can mean that people with advanced dementia may not receive of adequate palliative care in the last days of their life; instead, they may be exposed to aggressive and/or inappropriate treatments. The aim of this multicentre study was to assess the clinical interventions and care at end of life in a cohort of nursing home (NH) residents with advanced dementia in a large Italian region.
Methods: This retrospective study included a convenience sample of 29 NHs in the Lombardy Region.
Context: End-of-life care in nursing homes (NHs) needs improvement. We carried out a study in 29 NHs in the Lombardy Region (Italy).
Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare end-of-life care in NH residents with advanced dementia before and after an educational intervention aimed to improving palliative care.
Background: Comfort may be an appropriate goal in advanced dementia. Longitudinal studies on physician decision-making and discomfort assessed by direct observation are rare, and intravenous rehydration therapy is controversial.
Methods: To assess treatment decisions and discomfort in patients with advanced dementia and pneumonia and to compare by intravenous rehydration therapy, we used data from the observational multicenter Italian End of Life Observatory-Prospective Study On DEmentia patients Care.
Objective: To describe and compare the decisions critical for survival or quality of life [critical decisions (CDs)] made for patients with advanced dementia in nursing homes (NHs) and home care (HC) services.
Design: Prospective cohort study with a follow-up of 6 months.
Setting: Lombardy Region (NHs) and Reggio-Emilia and Modena Districts (HC), Italy.
Background: Despite ageing populations and increasing cancer deaths, many European countries lack national policies regarding palliative and end-of-life care. The aim of our research was to determine public views regarding end-of-life care in the face of serious illness.
Methods: Implementation of a pan-European population-based survey with adults in England, Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Evidence from a range of sources demonstrates that end-of-life (EoL) care practices and preferences vary across countries; culture is consistently one of the main explanations given for this. In order to understand how cultural factors are used to explain similarities and differences in EoL care between Spain, Italy and Portugal, database and hand searches were performed and cross-cutting core themes identified. Similarities included higher proportions of people who wished to die at home than actually died at home, a persistent trend for partial disclosure in Italy and Spain, low use of advance directives, and low incidence of all medical EoL decisions (with the exception of terminal sedation) compared to northern European countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Families of patients with advanced dementia need to be informed about the course of the dementia and comfort care. Conditional for health care providers educating families is their knowledge and comfort in family education.
Methods: Perceived usefulness and acceptability of a Canadian family booklet explaining possible complications and comfort care in dementia was assessed by physicians and nurses caring for dementia patients in 14 nursing homes in Lombardy, Italy and 21 in the Netherlands.
Objectives: To evaluate a booklet on comfort care in dementia from the perspective of family with relevant experience, and assess nursing home resident and family factors associated with evaluations.
Design: Retrospective study.
Setting: Long term care facilities in French-speaking Canada, and the Netherlands and Italy.