Advance care planning among residents in long-term care

Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2003 Sep-Oct;20(5):353-9. doi: 10.1177/104990910302000509.

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine whether two types of advance directives exist for individuals residing in long-term care facilities. Findings were based on data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Study-Nursing Home Component (MEPS-NHC), a survey using a two-stage stratified probability sample of nursing homes and residents to produce valid national estimates of the nursing home population in the United States. The two types of advance directives included basic, i.e., living will or do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order, and progressive (do-not-hospitalize order or orders restricting feeding, medication, or other treatment). Approximately 59 percent of long-term care residents had a basic advance directive, 9 percent have a progressive directive, and 60 percent have some type of directive. Logistic regression results indicate that the factors associated with the likelihood of each type of directive differ considerably, and only two variables (African American ethnicity and less time in the facility) were associated with a reduced likelihood of having either type of directive. Our results indicate that the two proposed types of advance directives are distinct with regard to the variables predicting each.

MeSH terms

  • Advance Directives / classification
  • Advance Directives / psychology
  • Advance Directives / statistics & numerical data*
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Data Collection
  • Ethnicity / psychology
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Homes for the Aged / standards
  • Homes for the Aged / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Life Support Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Living Wills*
  • Logistic Models
  • Long-Term Care / standards
  • Long-Term Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Male
  • Nursing Homes / standards
  • Nursing Homes / statistics & numerical data
  • Patient Compliance
  • Patient Education as Topic / methods
  • Probability
  • Resuscitation Orders*
  • United States