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Healthcare personnel's experiences with person-centredness and advanced care planning among nursing home residents with dementia. Passed

Tuesday May 14, 2024 15:44 - 16:30 Poster Arena

Presenter: Liv Berit Olsen

Track: People of old age, Posters

Poster can be found in location 75.

Background: Advanced care planning (ACP) is a formal and planned conversation between the patient, next of kin, and healthcare personnel, about the patient`s wishes for their end of life, but patients seldom participate. Aim: The aim was to explore how healthcare personnel in nursing homes experienced participating in ACP as a person-centered intervention. Method: Data was obtained through individual interviews with seven healthcare personnel at a nursing home for persons with dementia in Norway. Results: The participants experienced patients with dementia seldom participated in the formal ACP. However, topics from ACP were communicated in everyday conversations in moments when the patient`s cognitive function appeared temporarily improved. These conversations were not scheduled, and neither the physician nor the next of kin were present, as they would be in formal ACP. However, some of the healthcare personnel talked about these conversations as ACP.  In this way, the patients conveyed their wishes for the end of life directly and not through their next of kin or the healthcare personnel. Conclusion: Healthcare personnel experienced that patients with dementia were able to express their wishes for the end of life but did seldom participate in the formal ACP. Results of this study indicates that informal conversations during a patients’ period of transient cognitive enhancement in everyday life can add important information about the patients` wishes for the end of life.  The end-of-life care for the patient is presumed to be more person-centred when the wishes come directly from the patient, rather than through potential interpretations by others.  

Language

English

Seminar type

Poster

Conference

GCPCC

Authors

Liv Berit Olsen, Liv Halvorsrud, Camilla Anker-Hansen, Vigdis Abrahamsen Grøndahl, Guri Rummelhoff

Lecturers

Liv Berit Olsen Presenter

Østfold University College