Order by February 28, 2014

Long term care homes provide care for residents until the end of life. Each year approximately 20% of residents die and most wish to stay at home. Staff work very hard to provide palliative care to residents and their families. The Quality Palliative Care in Long Term Care (QPC-LTC) toolkit can support long term care homes these efforts.

The toolkit includes resources to develop a palliative care program that is unique to the long term care home setting and context. The toolkit includes a framework that is the first of its kind in Canada and one of few developed internationally. The Quality Palliative Care in Long Term Care Framework includes three core components: a philosophy of palliative care, a program description and organizational policy, and a process for organizational change. These core components are supported by 40 tools, modules, in-services, and innovations for direct care, education, and community partnerships which were also created by the Alliance.

Funding for this toolkit was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) with knowledge translation support from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

The toolkit and all 40 innovations are available online free of charge by visiting www.palliativealliance.ca