Improving prescribing of medications at the end-of-life in long-term care homes through the COVID-19 pandemic

This proposal involves 2 provinces (Ontario and Alberta) where knowledge users have identified a need to improve palliative care in long-term care (LTC) homes, and where investigators have ready access to data to conduct rapid implementation research. Both provinces have had 70%+ of COVID-19 deaths in LTC homes. We propose 3 main phases/objectives: 1. Data measurement to detect variations in end-of-life palliative medication prescribing (proxy to palliative care delivery) and evaluate changes post-intervention; 2. Mixed methods evaluation to deepen understanding of the barriers and facilitators of end-of-life prescribing in LTC; and 3. Intervention to support homes in both provinces, focusing on those most challenged to provide end-of-life care during COVID-19.