Amsterdam Nursing Home Corporation

Caring Communication at the End of Life

The "Caring Communication at the End-of-Life" project was a consortium of nine nursing homes awarded to Amsterdam Nursing Home and managed by the Foundation for Long Term Care. (FLTC). The project was designed to enhance the psychosocial care of nursing home residents with dementia at the end-of-life. The FLTC developed training materials for staff and family members, this training was delivered to all nine nursing homes reaching approximately 1000 staff and 100 family members.

The FLTC conducted quantitative and qualitative research to determine how this carefully crafted training program affects the direct-care staff and family members. This training program was designed to (a) increase the staff's knowledge of dementia; (b) hone their cross-cultural communication skills; (c) increase their satisfaction with end-of-life care; and (d) help family members feel more at ease when communicating their needs to direct-care staff.

Training materials were disseminated throughout New York State

Goal: Regarding end-of-life care, improve communication between staff and family members, increase family participation, and increase staff satisfaction.