2022 Theses Doctoral

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Palliative Care Services and Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations at the End of Life in Nursing Homes Nationwide

Estrada, Leah V.

This dissertation aims to examine racial and ethnic inequities in nursing home (NH) palliative care services and potentially avoidable hospitalizations at the end of life. Health disparities are pervasive in NHs, but disparities in NH end-of-life care (i.e. palliative care services, hospital transfers) have not been comprehensively examined.

Chapter One provides an overview of this dissertation, which explores inequities in nursing home end-of-life care. Chapter Two is a systematic review that synthesized the current state of the science in racial and ethnic disparities in NH end-of-life care. Chapter Three was designed to describe palliative care services in U.S. NHs and associations with differences in the concentrations of Black and Hispanic residents, respectively, and the impact by region. Chapter Four is an analysis of racial and ethnic differences in NH potentially avoidable hospitalization incidence rates.

Finally, Chapter Five is a synthesis of this body of work. It contains a summary of findings of this dissertation, a discussion of the results, practice and policy implications, and directions for future research.