Quality of care in a veterans affairs' nursing home-based hospice unit

Objectives: To report on quality of care in a Veterans Affairs (VA) dedicated hospice unit. Design: Mortality follow-back survey of bereaved family members, using a quality of care instrument. Setting: A VA inpatient hospice unit. Participants: Bereaved family members. Measurements: Satisfaction with care as perceived by family members using a telephone survey. Results: 159 family members were contacted with 102 completing full and 37 completing abbreviated surveys. (Overall response rate: 87.4%, complete responses: 64.2%) 98% of all respondents reported overall quality of care as Excellent or Very Good. Conclusion: High levels of satisfaction were reported by family members. Implications of this initiative for the provision of hospice care in nursing homes are discussed, including replication of the model in both VA and non-VA nursing home settings.