Dobbs, Debra, Meng, Hongdao, Hyer, Kathyrn, Volicer, Ladi

Objective: This study examined the impact of hospice enrollment on the probabilities of hospital and nursing home admissions among a sample of frail dual-eligible assisted living (AL) residents.; Design: The study used a retrospective cohort design. We estimated bivariate probit models with 2 binary outcome variables: any hospital admissions and any nursing home admissions after […]

Sampson, Elizabeth L., Jones, Louise, Thuné-Boyle, Ingela C. V., Kukkastenvehmas, Riitta, King, Michael, Leurent, Baptiste, Tookman, Adrian, Blanchard, Martin R.

Patients with advanced dementia often receive poor end-of-life care. We aimed to design and pilot a palliative care and advance care plan (ACP) intervention. Patients had undergone emergency hospital admission and had severe dementia. The intervention consisted of a palliative care patient assessment which informed an ACP discussion with the carer, who was offered the […]

Volandes, Angelo E., Paasche-Orlow, Michael K., Barry, Michael J., Gillick, Muriel R., Minaker, Kenneth L., Chang, Yuchiao, Cook, E. Francis, Abbo, Elmer D., El-Jawahri, Areej, Mitchell, Susan L.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a video decision support tool on the preferences for future medical care in older people if they develop advanced dementia, and the stability of those preferences after six weeks.; Design: Randomised controlled trial conducted between 1 September 2007 and 30 May 2008. Setting Four primary care clinics (two geriatric […]

Volandes, Angelo E., Mitchell, Susan L., Gillick, Muriel R., Chang, Yuchiao, Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.

Introduction: When patients are unable to make important end-of-life decisions, doctors ask surrogate decision makers to provide insight into patients’ preferences. Unfortunately, multiple studies have shown that surrogates’ knowledge of patient preferences is poor. We hypothesized that a video decision tool would improve concordance between patients and their surrogates for end-of-life preferences.; Objective: To compare […]

van der Steen, Jenny T., Albers, Gwenda, Licht-Strunk, Els, Muller, Martien T., Ribbe, Miel W.

Background: The clinical impact of risk score use in end-of-life settings is unknown, with reports limited to technical properties.; Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study to evaluate clinical impact of a validated mortality risk score aimed at informing prognosis and supporting clinicians in decision-making in dementia patients with pneumonia. We performed a trial (n = […]

Gallagher, Maribeth

The ongoing extension of the average human lifespan in most parts of the world forecasts an unprecedented number of aging adults developing Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia. Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, commonly referred to as agitated behaviours, are estimated to occur in over 80% of patients and are typically treated using antipsychotic medications, […]