It is estimated that over 50% of the elderly in Belgium die in acute hospital settings where quality end-of-life care is lacking. The Care Program for the Last Days of Life (CAREFuL) was developed to improve the comfort and quality of care for this population. In this cluster, randomized, controlled trial, the geriatric wards of 10 hospitals were assigned to the study group (implementation of CAREFuL) or to the control group (standard care). Using a dementia-comfort assessment tool to measure outcomes, investigators found that implementation of CAREFuL significantly improved nurse-assessed comfort, however, did not result in improvement in caregiver-assessed comfort. CAREFuL did not significantly improve caregiver-assessed or nurse-assessed symptom management as measured by a dementia-symptom management assessment tool.
Link to Lancet article, Improving comfort around dying in elderly people: a cluster randomized controlled trial (7/2017)