Conducting family meetings in nursing homes: resident, nurse, and family perceptions.

Results indicate that families, patients, nurses, and physicians found the meetings useful for sharing medical information and providing emotional support in nursing home patients.

Abstract

One facet of the teaching nursing home activities of the Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency Program involves requiring residents to schedule a yearly family meeting in collaboration with nursing staff for each of the three to six nursing home patients for whom they are primarily responsible. During a one-year period, meetings were held for 45 of 63 nursing home patients (71%). All participants used a simple instrument to evaluate the experience. A general outline of the content and process of successful meetings is described. Results indicate that families, patients, nurses, and physicians found the meetings useful for sharing medical information and providing emotional support. Meetings typically reinforced or made only minor refinements in the ongoing plan of care. The implementation methods of the project are briefly described so that others might consider making yearly family meetings in nursing homes a part of their training programs.