Scope and outcomes of surrogate decision making among hospitalized older adults.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Hospitalized older adults often lack decisional capacity, but outside of the intensive care unit and end-of-life care settings, little is known about the frequency of decision making by family members or other surrogates or its implications for hospital care.

Objective

To describe the scope of surrogate decision making, the hospital course, and outcomes for older adults.

Design, setting, and participants

Prospective, observational study conducted in medicine and medical intensive care unit services of 2 hospitals in 1 Midwestern city in 1083 hospitalized older adults identified by their physicians as requiring major medical decisions.

Main outcomes and measures

Clinical characteristics, hospital outcomes, nature of major medical decisions, and surrog

SUBMITTER: Torke AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3947481 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature