Perspectives across Canada about implementing a palliative approach in long-term care during COVID-19

Background Long-term care (LTC) homes have been disproportionately impacted during COVID-19. Purpose To explore the perspectives of stakeholders across Canada around implementing a palliative approach in LTC home during COVID-19. Methods Qualitative, descriptive design using one-to-one or paired semi-structured interviews. Results Four themes were identified: (1) the influence of the pandemic on implementing a palliative approach, (2) families are an essential part of implementing a palliative approach, (3) prioritizing advance care planning (ACP) and goals of care (GoC) discussions in anticipation of the overload of deaths and (4) COVID-19 highlighting the need for a palliative approach as well as several subthemes. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the implementation of a palliative approach to care, where many LTC homes faced an overwhelming number of deaths and restricted the presence of family members. A more concentrated focus on home-wide ACP and GoC conversations and the need for a palliative approach to care in LTC were identified.