Karl Steinberg, MD, CEO of Stone Mountain Medical Associates, and Certified Nurse Aide, Telisa Green, addressed barriers to quality, end-of-life care during a webinar hosted by the National Association of Health Care Assistants. Steinberg and Green warned that a lack of end-of-life training may leave certified nurse assistants unprepared to work with patients receiving palliative or hospice care, and nursing homes must do more to cross-train and build their confidence. Panelists acknowledged that palliative and end-of-life care are specific areas of long-term care but emphasized that certified nursing assistants can apply their principles broadly to their work in nursing homes.
Steinberg said, “A lot of the care that’s given in nursing homes, whether we call it that or not, is palliative care because its pain-based care, it’s care that relates to not just the physical person but the quality of life. We’re all about symptom control, symptom management, and making each day the best day it can be. And I hope we do that for just about all our nursing home residents.”
Steinberg emphasized that if there was one thing any nursing home CNA needs to do it is to develop comfort around the topics of death and dying. Both Green and Steinberg emphasized the importance of prioritizing a resident and their family’s comfort over too much devotion to a formalized care plan. Steinberg encouraged CNAs to approach nurses with suggestions for adjusting care plans when necessary and that doctors and nurses rely on them because they have so much more time spent with individual residents and can observe key changes in demeanor and condition.
