This is perhaps the least scientific of this year's MIR questions, since its answer is based on the interpretation of a law, which is also of an autonomous nature. Probably the spirit of the examiner wants to reflect this law, in an extreme case. Let's see, starting from article 11 of Law 41 /2002, of November 14 (1), basic law regulating patient autonomy and the rights and obligations regarding information and clinical documentation (B.O.E. No. 274, of November 15) of a national nature, in Castilla-La Mancha there is Law 6/2005, of July 7 (2), of Castilla-La Mancha, on the Declaration of Advance Directives in matters of one's own health. (D.O.C.M. No. 141, of July 15) and Decree 15/2006, of February 21 (3), of the Registry of Advance Directives of Castilla-La Mancha (D.O.C.M. No. 42, of February 24). In the summary published by the JCCM (4) it says: "The declaration of advance directives (also known as advance directives or living will) is the written manifestation of a capable person who, acting freely, expresses the instructions to be taken into account regarding the health care he/she wishes to receive in situations that prevent him/her from communicating his/her will personally, or regarding the destination of his/her body or organs once death has occurred. In our declaration of advance directives, we can refer to: 1. The expression of personal values, in order to help in the interpretation of the document itself and to guide physicians in making clinical decisions. 2. Instructions about the care and treatment related to our health that we may or may not wish to receive. 3. We may appoint a representative to act as an interlocutor with the responsible physician or health care team to ensure that the instructions contained in the declaration are carried out. 4. We may also include our decision regarding organ donation. In these cases, the authorization of the family will not be required for the removal or use of the donated organs". It thus seems clear that the intended response is 5.

This is perhaps the least scientific of this year's MIR questions, since its answer is based on the interpretation of a law, which is also of an autonomous nature. Probably the spirit of the examiner wants to reflect this law, in an extreme case. Let's see, starting from article 11 of Law 41 /2002, of November 14 (1), basic law regulating patient autonomy and the rights and obligations regarding information and clinical documentation (B.O.E. No. 274, of November 15) of a national nature, in Castilla-La Mancha there is Law 6/2005, of July 7 (2), of Castilla-La Mancha, on the Declaration of Advance Directives in matters of one's own health. (D.O.C.M. No. 141, of July 15) and Decree 15/2006, of February 21 (3), of the Registry of Advance Directives of Castilla-La Mancha (D.O.C.M. No. 42, of February 24). In the summary published by the JCCM (4) it says: "The declaration of advance directives (also known as advance directives or living will) is the written manifestation of a capable person who, acting freely, expresses the instructions to be taken into account regarding the health care he/she wishes to receive in situations that prevent him/her from communicating his/her will personally, or regarding the destination of his/her body or organs once death has occurred. In our declaration of advance directives, we can refer to: 1. The expression of personal values, in order to help in the interpretation of the document itself and to guide physicians in making clinical decisions. 2. Instructions about the care and treatment related to our health that we may or may not wish to receive. 3. We may appoint a representative to act as an interlocutor with the responsible physician or health care team to ensure that the instructions contained in the declaration are carried out. 4. We may also include our decision regarding organ donation. In these cases, the authorization of the family will not be required for the removal or use of the donated organs". It thus seems clear that the intended response is [HIDDEN].

For the third time in the last 6 months an 84-year-old man with advanced dementia is admitted to a hospital for aspiration pneumonia. He has lost 9.5 kg in the last 10 months. He has a pressure ulcer in the sacrum. He does not communicate verbally, does not ambulate and is dependent for all activities of daily living. His wife cares for him at home and does not want to place him in a nursing home. A swallowing study indicates that he chokes on all types of food consistencies. The hospital physician suggests tube feeding. The patient's "Advance Living Will" states that his wife is the representative decision maker regarding his medical care and that he does not want extraordinary measures to prolong his life including artificial nutrition. Which of the following is the most appropriate recommendation for this patient:

Place an indwelling SNG and discharge to a skilled nursing home.

Place a mid-term NGUS and discharge to a nursing home with specialized care until bedsores heal.

Discharge to a nursing home with specialized care until pressure ulcers heal.

Place a gastrostomy tube and discharge home.

Discharge home with palliative care from the health area.

[For terminal cancer patient inserted with four tubes to live at home--from discussion with family].

The patient was an 86-year-old man with mild dementia, and a urinary bladder catheter already inserted for benign prostata hypertrophy. At this time he had jaundice due to duodenal papillary cancer and was inserted with a percutaneous transhepatic bile drainage tube (PTBD). Additionally, due to an obstruction of his duodenum, he received a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG) for suction of gastric juice and intravenous hyperalimentation catheter (IVH) for nutrition. He always wished to return home. The medical staff and his family discussed this many times to realize his hope. We his daughter-in-law how to handle the 4 tubes. When she learned how, he went home and was on the visiting care system. But only one week after, despite his stability, his son, who was living apart got drunk and sent him back to the hospital. We tried to persuade them, including all family members living apart. At last he could return home again, and one week after died quietly at home. We learn from this case that it is important and very difficult for a family to accept a terminal cancer patient at home. It is necessary to advice them from two stand-points, the medical techniques and the mental aspects.

[Discharge planning in which a discharge planning nurse was involved in the choice of nutrition management for an elderly person with dementia].

A discharge planning nurse at an acute care hospital conducted discharge planning for an elderly person with dementia who is in his/her 90s and his/her family. The nurse was involved in the choice of nutrition management method and was able to support the family's decision-making. The family had high expectations for oral ingestion, and there was disparity between those expectations and the actual state of the disease, in which aspiration occurred frequently. The nurse respected the family's wishes, but also helped the family to correctly understand the state of the disease and to make satisfactory choices about future daily life. In order to guarantee safety, the discharge planning nurse held a conference with people related to homecare, such as the home-visiting physician, the home-visiting nurse, and the care manager. As a result of the conference, that family was able to feel satisfied with and choose gastrostomy as the nutrition method. The current situation was better understood because information was shared with the community, and the confidence in the community was strengthened by giving consideration to the family's burden. It was reconfirmed that the cooperation of local staff members is useful in discharge planning.

Advance directives at end-of-life: nursing home resident preferences for artificial nutrition.

Nursing homes are increasingly the place where many Americans die. Thus, advance directives are critical to the preservation of the autonomous wishes at end-of-life. The purpose of this paper is to determine if preferences for artificial nutrition, as stated in the advance directives of nursing home residents, are honored in the last 2 months of life. Secondary analysis. Six Maryland community nursing homes. Fifty-seven consented residents (age 62 to 98) from the parent study who died during the study period. Retrospective document review including advance directives and clinical care provided in the last 2 months of life. Most of the nursing home residents in this sample refused feeding tubes, and these preferences were honored during the last 2 months of life (93%), despite some (17% to 26%) with documented weight loss. A small percentage (8.8%) of residents received feeding tubes at end-of-life and, of those, only 1 was consistent with advance directive preferences. Most advance directives in this study included feeding tube preferences. In this nursing home sample, advance directives were significant documents guiding decisions on artificial nutrition, and feeding tubes were in fact uncommon at the end of life. The study suggests that advance care planning, quality palliative care training, and administrative support are necessary for the honoring of preferences. Future research is needed to examine more broadly tube-feeding practices and prevalence in nursing homes.

Using rapid-cycle quality improvement methodology to reduce feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia: before and after study.

Despite lack of evidence that enteral feeding tubes benefit patients with dementia, and often contrary to the wishes of patient and family, patients with dementia who have difficulty swallowing or reduced food intake often receive feeding tubes when hospitalised for an acute illness. We conducted a retrospective chart review of all patients receiving percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy or jejunostomy tubes between March and September 2002. QI interventions including a palliative care consulting service and educational programmes were instituted. We conducted a second chart review for all patients receiving feeding tubes between March and September 2003. 652 bed urban acute care hospital. We measured the number of feeding tubes placed in patients with dementia, the number of feeding tubes placed in patients with dementia capable of taking food by mouth, and the number of feeding tubes placed in patients with dementia with an advance directive stating the wish to forgo artificial nutrition and hydration. Medical and allied health staff received educational programmes on end of life care and on feeding management of patients with dementia. A palliative care consulting team was established. After the interventions, the number of feeding tubes placed in all patients and in patients with dementia was greatly reduced. Multidisciplinary involvement, including participation by the administration, was essential to effect change in practice. The intensive focus on a particular issue and rapid change led to "culture shift" within the hospital community. The need to establish unified goals of care for each patient was highlighted. A growing body of research over the past decade has questioned the utility of placing feeding tubes (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) or jejunostomy) in patients with advanced dementia. Studies have found no evidence that feeding tubes in this population prevent aspiration, prolong life, improve overall function, or reduce pressure sores. Additionally, the quality of life of a patient with advanced dementia can be adversely affected when a feeding tube is inserted. The patient may require wrist restraints to prevent pulling on the tube or may develop cellulitis at the gastrostomy site, develop decubitus ulcers, be deprived of the social interaction and pleasure surrounding meals, and require placement in a nursing home. Unfortunately, many doctors are unfamiliar with this literature or face barriers-attitudinal, institutional, or imposed by the healthcare industry-to applying its findings to their practice. Thus feeding tubes are placed in patients who will not benefit from this intervention and whose quality of life in the terminal stage of their illness will be adversely affected. With the expected increase of elderly people with dementia, a great change in doctors' knowledge, attitudes, and practice is necessary to prevent even greater numbers of patients receiving this futile treatment.

Use of feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia: are we doing harm?

The decision to place a feeding tube in a patient with advanced dementia is difficult for both family members and health care professionals. There is increasing evidence that the use of feeding tubes in these patients does not improve survival, prevent aspiration pneumonia, prevent or heal decubitus ulcers, or improve other clinical outcomes. Yet, despite this evidence, more than one third of nursing home residents with advanced dementia have feeding tubes, and many of these individuals have feeding tubes inserted on hospital admission for an acute care problem. Health care professionals need to examine the evidence carefully to identify practices that provide patients and families with information to make informed choices and respect their rights and dignity at end of life.

[Two cases of home parenteral nutrition in which home care was difficult].

Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is usually conducted after hospital training and home trials, but in more than a few cases self-care is virtually impossible or the ability of carers is insufficient. We investigated the problem points in the cases of two HPN patients from our hospital. Patient 1 was a 76-year-old man who had undergone surgery for esophageal cancer. He was rehospitalized with passage disorders due to eating difficulties such as dysmasesis and dysphagia and an insufficient ability to comprehend meals. Self-care was virtually impossible owing to his lack of understanding of the disease and his dementia. Even if subcutaneous leakage of the subcutaneously implanted port occurred or the connecting portion became dislocated, the patient would not be able to alert others to this by himself. His wife, the key person in his care, could not undergo hospital training because of her advanced age. She received instruction on the techniques for the completion of IVH for one month from the visiting carer, but handling the syringe and needle and the clamp maneuver were difficult for her, and she later developed an infection and was hospitalized. Upon consultation with the primary physician, a change was made to a Groshong catheter, which reduced the maneuver burden, but the prepared checklist was not used and there were problems in the handling of the catheter and management during the period when the maneuvers were being carried out. In addition, discord arose in the family relations, so a grandchild who was a university student rather than the daughter-in-law received instruction according to the manual in order to care for the patient on the nurse's days off. Currently, HPN is being carried out 3/week with meal instructions adjusted to the patient's dysphagia and contact with the family on the nurse's days off. An issue remaining for the future is the use of informal resources in terms of both micro-intervention, including selection of a catheter with consideration of care ability and meal instruction matched to his eating function, and macro-intervention with consideration of the family environment and interpersonal relationships. Patient 2 was a 41-year-old woman with SLE. She was a former nurse, but self-care was not possible due to steroid myopathy. Her main carer was her mother, but due to Alzheimer's-type dementia her mother had difficulty with sterile maneuvers, and sometime allowed the syringe, needle, and set to get dirty or refused to administer the medication or change the batteries on the pump. A visiting nurse and helper visit twice/week each and another volunteer provides daily support, but to continue home care in the future it will be essential to further train the helper and deepen the cooperation between all related.

[End-of-life care in a special elderly nursing home characteristics of patients who died in nursing home facilities and current status of end-of-life decision-making].

We investigated the characteristics of people who died in a special elderly nursing home and the current status of end-of-life decision-making. Subjects comprised 168 residents who were discharged from a special elderly nurshing home in Yokohama between April 1998 and June 2008. A total of 3 patients were excluded from this study due to insufficient inclusion criteria. We collected and retrospectively examined the basic descriptive information regarding the terminal phase of care from medical records, death certificates, and the notes of nurses, caregivers and counseling staff. Of a total of 165 subjects comprising 38 men (23%) and 127 women (77%), 30 (18%) died in a nursing home facility (facility mortality group), 101 (61%) died in hospitals (hospital mortality group) and 34 (21%) were discharged from special elderly nursing homes for transfer to long-term hospitalization (hospitalization group). To clarify the factors which led to death within the facilities, we analyzed: 1) age at discharge, 2) sex, 3) residency period, 4) number of hospitalizations, 5) length of hospital stay, 6) number of children, 7) number of conferences regarding end-of-life care in 2 groups: the facility mortality group and all others as the second group, as explanatory variables on multiple discriminant analysis. This revealed a higher number of conferences, a higher age at discharge, and a smaller number of hospitalizations in the facility mortality group. Only 12 (7%) people were able to convey by themselves how they wanted to spend the remainder of their lives, and 61 (37%) people conveyed this information via family members. However, 100 (61%) people were unable to confirm it by either self-report or family members. The people who died in special elderly nursing homes had a higher age, fewer hospitalizations, and had been involved in more conferences regarding terminal care. However, it was very hard to confirm individual intentions regarding terminal care periods. Further studies will be necessary to determine what kind of terminal care is needed in special elderly nursing homes when it is difficult to confirm individual or family intention regarding the terminal period.

End-of-life treatment decisions in nursing home residents dying with dementia in the Netherlands.

The objective was to describe end-of-life treatment decisions for patients dying with dementia in various stages of dementia in long-term care facilities in the Netherlands with elderly care physicians responsible for treatment and care. We present data collected in the nationally representative Dutch End of Life in Dementia study (2007-2011). Within 2 weeks after death, 103 physicians completed questionnaires about the last phase of life in 330 residents with dementia who resided in 1 of 34 participating long-term care facilities. We used descriptive statistics. Advance directives were rare (4.9%). A minority was hospitalized (8.0%) in the last month (mainly for fractures) or received antibiotics (24.2%) in the last week (mainly for pneumonia). Four residents received tube feeding or rehydration therapy in the last week. In almost half of the residents (42.3%), decisions were made not to start potentially life-prolonging treatment such as hospital transfer and artificial nutrition and hydration. In more than half of the residents (53.7%), decisions were made to withdraw potentially life-prolonging treatment such as artificial nutrition and hydration and medication. Antibiotics were more frequently prescribed for residents with less advanced dementia, but otherwise there were no differences in treatment decisions between residents with advanced and less advanced dementia. Physicians often withhold potentially burdensome life-prolonging treatment in nursing home residents in all stages of dementia in the Netherlands. This suggests that the physicians feel that a palliative care approach is appropriate at the end of life in dementia in long-term care. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. StartCopTextCopyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Medicare (United States)

A preceding hospital stay must be at least three days as an inpatient, three midnights, not counting the discharge date. The skilled nursing facility stay must be for something diagnosed during the hospital stay or for the main cause of hospital stay. If the patient is not receiving rehabilitation but has some other ailment that requires skilled nursing supervision (e.g., wound management) then the nursing home stay would be covered. The care being rendered by the nursing home must be skilled. Medicare part A does not pay for stays that only provide custodial, non-skilled, or long-term care activities, including activities of daily living (ADL) such as personal hygiene, cooking, cleaning, etc. The care must be medically necessary and progress against some set plan must be made on some schedule determined by a doctor.

Navigating Medical Care for a Young Adult with Developmental Disability.

Sam is a 20-year-old young man with intermittent gastritis, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability who was admitted to the hospital because of nutritional concerns. His parents have legal guardianship and report that he has had increasing frequency of refusal to eat, resulting in a 15-pound weight loss over the past 3 months. On admission, a multidisciplinary team including specialists in gastroenterology, nutrition, feeding (behavioral and mechanical), psychiatry, palliative care, and social work was engaged to develop an evaluation and care plan. Sam's nutritional assessment was significant for severe malnutrition. An upper endoscopy was performed and was without abnormalities, including signs of significant gastritis.An upper endoscopy was performed and was without abnormalities, including signs of significant gastritis.A carefully obtained history found that Sam does not have a primary care physician. He was recently hospitalized at another facility because of his weight loss and nutritional concerns but was discharged against medical advice because of parental dissatisfaction with his care. His mother shared that she has tried many strategies to encourage Sam to eat including pushing spoons of food into his mouth, syringe feeding, and verbally pleading with Sam to take a bite, but all of these have been without success.Because of concerns that persistent attempts to verbally and physically coerce Sam to eat may be contributing to his aversion to food/eating, the feeding team provided Sam's parents with education and coaching for utilization of behavioral cues to determine when Sam wanted to eat. Despite parents expressing their understanding of the importance of avoiding physical attempts to "make" Sam eat and the team palliative care physician meeting with Sam's parents to elicit their goals for Sam's care, his nurses reported observing several instances of Sam's mother tapping a loaded spoon on his lips. Because of minimal oral intake, a nasogastric tube was placed for provision of hydration and nutrition. Sam's parents consented to the use of soft restraints and the presence of a bedside patient care assistant because of Sam becoming agitated and pulling at the tube.After 10 days of hospitalization, Sam was taking about 50% of his goal intake by mouth. Unfortunately, Sam removed his NG tube, and his parents refused to allow the tube to be replaced. Sam's parents then discharged him against medical advice, stating that they believed he would recover better at home. What are important considerations in caring for patients like Sam in the hospital setting and beyond?

The determinants of patients in a palliative care unit being discharged home in Japan.

In Japan, regarding the place of end-of-life care, many people preferred the home. However, there is a discrepancy between patients' wishes and the actual circumstances. The primary aim of this study was to explore the factors that determine discharge home of patients in a palliative care unit. A total of 31 patients met the criteria. The patients who could be discharged home (group 1; n = 23) were compared with the others (group 2; n = 8). Palliative prognostic index was significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2 (P = .032). Regarding routes of feeding, oral intake was significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (P = .043). That is to say, factors determining discharge home of patients may be influenced by the patient's prognosis and the necessity of a feeding device.

[A case of serious aspiration pneumonia associated with multiple cerebral infarctions and Alzheimer's disease followed by hospital and home care service team].

A 81-year-old man, who had been diagnosed in multiple cerebral infarction and Alzheimer's disease, was followed up in his local clinic since 1997. He had been bedridden before admission, but could eat. He was admitted with severe aspiration pneumonia in December 1999. Since severe dementia and dysphagia were noted after admission, he was examined to find out whether or not he could swallow while the treatment of his pneumonia was conducted at the same time. The water swallowing test indicated a risk of aspiration, thus, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was performed on January 26, 2000 after the completion of the treatment for pneumonia. Although the patient's condition was complicated by aspiration pneumonia, enteral feeding through the gastric fistula gradually became successful, and he was discharged in June 2000. His family physician followed him up by visiting at home to examine and observe his general physical condition including consciousness, vital signs, skin and respiration, while taking measures in cooperation with the local health care visiting nurse. The patient, thereafter, was repeatedly admitted and discharged because of exacerbation and remission of symptoms, including coughing, sputum and fever, probably caused by aspiration pneumonia. When he was admitted in December 2001, which was his sixth admission, since there were troubles with the infusion tube and frequent gastroesophageal reflux, the gastric fistula management was judged to be a great burden on the patient. In January 2002, the gastrostomy tube was removed and the patients, whose alimentation was managed using intra-venous hyperalimentation (IVH), was discharged. Besides periodic visits by his family physician, a 24-hour house visit system was introduced to control his IVH and deal with his family members' anxiety. His general condition, thereafter, has not markedly changed. The patient has continuously received medical treatment for 14 months after being discharged and his condition is stable.

[Elements necessary for end-of-life care for terminal cancer patients and standardization of discharge planning].

Unitil now, most terminal cancer patients have received end-of-life care service in a hospital. How, recently, home health care services have received much attention instead of the hospital care. In this study, we investigated important factors affecting smooth transition to home health care from hospital care. We examined the records of 66 deceased subjects with terminal cancers who received medical care by staff of home heath care agency "Yunomori Tnapopo clininc" were included in this study. The categories evaluated were: 1) general condition, 2) breakdown of family caregivers, 3) rate of application for care insurance, 4) the percentage of cases with a discharge planning conference, 5) the time of death and, 6) frequency of visiting care in the first 1 week and the last 1 week. The 66 subjects consisted of 38 men (58%) and the average age of the group was 71.1 2.0. 1) Dementia was indicated in 20 (30%) patients and 23% of the patients were reliant on intravenous nutrition. Oxygen treatment was required for 45% of the patients. Some help for excretion was required by 70% of the patients. 2) 70% of a main care giver were woman and the average number of persons per household was 2.0. 3) 50% of the patients did not apply for care insurance. 4) Discharge planning conferences between the hospital and the clininc were held in only 21% of the case. 5) over 70% of the patients died outside duty hours (between 8AM and 6PM). 6) Although the average duration of stay at home was 62.5 days, 10% of the cases died or had to leave their home due to worsening condition during the first 2 weeks. Vsits by medical doctor in the last 1 week significantly increased in frequency compared to that in the last 1 week. (5.0 0.2 vs. 3.9 0.2, p<0.01). In addition, frequency of care visits by nurses increased significantly as well (3.2 0.2 vs. 2.4 0.2, p<0.01). Overall the number of care visits in the last 1 week was more than once a day. 1. A home-health care clinic which gives 24-hour care is necessary so that the patients receive end-of-life care as well as hospital care. 2. Earliest possible transfer to the home health care setting is needed so trhat the patients could have enough time to live in their hom with their family. On this account, it is most important to convene a conference co-organaized by the home health care adjusytment. In addition, the patients or their family need to apply to the munided office for care insurance. Medical staff should provide information and help them.

[A patient with dysphagia treated successfully and discharged without nutritional support].

One of the main targets of medical care provided in our ward, which specializes in the cooperative practice of hospital- and home-doctors, is to maintain the quality of patients' lives after they are discharged from our hospital through home medical care by home-doctors. Intravenous hyperalimentation and tube-feeding at home are suitable solutions for some patients with dysphagia after cerebral infarction. However, the difficulties faced in their management are the burden on the families, which tends to be an obstacle for at-home-practice. We describe herein a case of severe dysphagia treated successfully through our rehabilitation program and discharged without nutritional supports. An 82-year-old man was admitted to our hospital suffering from pyrexia and dysbasia. The man, who lives with his wife and his son's family, was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and multiple cerebral infarctions. The test for swallowing reflex revealed an impaired first phase reflex and intravenous hyperalimentation was performed for his nutritional support. He was still suffering from dysphagia but had the desire to eat orally after his dysbasia and aspiration pneumonia were cured. A rehabilitation program was scheduled with the aims of 1) recovery of ingestion and 2) sufficient expectoration, with an ongoing teaching program for the management of intravenous hyperalimentation. After one month of rehabilitation (ice-massaging, muscle rehabilitation of the tongue and neck and expectoration training in a prone position and after gorging), his ability to swallow was gradually recovered. With the frequent confirmation of absence of aspiration, special forms of diets were served and upgraded from jelly, paste-like-food to soft-cooked steamed rice. The patient is now at home without any nutritional support. Nutritional management without intravenous hyperalimentation or tube-feeding is important or even essential for some families providing home-care for patients. The problem of aging requires us to reduce the burden that families (who may be also getting older) should carry. We try to support patients and families for better home-care through cooperation with society and home-doctors.

Interpreting a living will after stroke.

Mr. Duffy is 83 years old and is admitted to rehabilitation 4 weeks after a right thalamic cerebral vascular accident (CVA). He has dysphagia, dysarthria, left hemiplegia, and is moderately-severely confused. He pulls out his nasogastric feeding tube and his physician decides not to reinsert it because of significant nasal tissue necrosis. The team recommends a gastrostomy tube for nutrition because of Mr. Duffy's lack of alertness and high risk for aspiration. Mr. Duffy has a Living Will that states he does not wish to have his life sustained with a feeding tube. He does not have a formal Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. His wife has dementia and their daughters are making decisions for both parents. They are not sure about his wishes in this particular circumstance, but report that he said of a relative who died of cancer, "things went on too long because of that feeding tube." After 3 days, Mr. Duffy is more alert, and during a discussion about tube feedings he says, "I'll go for the works." His fluctuating alertness level prevents him from responding to this question again. His daughters feel he would not want the tube and suggest waiting to see if his swallowing improves in the next week before making a decision.

Expectations and outcomes of gastric feeding tubes.

To compare expected outcomes with actual outcomes from tube feeding in adult patients. This prospective cohort study was conducted in two North Carolina hospitals. Surrogates were interviewed shortly after feeding tube insertion and at 3- and 6-month follow-up; chart abstraction and death certificate review also were carried out. Participants were surrogate decision-makers for consecutive adult patients who received new feeding tubes. There were 288 patients with surrogate decision-makers enrolled. Mean age was 65 years; 30% had a primary diagnosis of stroke, 16% neurodegenerative disorder, 20% head and neck cancer, and 30% other diagnoses. At 3 months, 21% of patients had died, and 6-month mortality was 30%. At 3 months, 38% of survivors were residing in a nursing home, and 27% had the feeding tube removed. Patients were impaired in most activities of daily living (ADLs) with little change over time. Medical complications were common: 25% of patients had decubitus ulcers at 3 months, and 24% had at least one episode of pneumonia. Perceived global quality of life was poor at 4.6 (on a 0-10 scale) at baseline, and surrogates anticipated this would improve to 8.0 with tube feeding. Family surrogates' expectations for improvement from the feeding tube were very high at baseline and remained so at 3 and 6 months. Families' high expectations of benefit from tube feeding are in contrast to clinical outcomes. Providers and families need better information about the outcomes of this common procedure.

[Case report--cooperation among medical staff to improve home enteral nutrition and increase hope in a patient with dementia].

Herein, we describe the case of a man in his 70s who had slight dementia. Because of dysphagia, the patient received enteral nutrition by gastrostomy. The patient wished to care for his wife, who had severe dementia and was also receiving enteral nutrition. He was later re-hospitalized for aspiration-related pneumonia. At this point, it was discovered that the management of enteral nutrition via gastrostomy was different from that at the time of discharge from our hospital. Nutritional management during home care may change for various reasons after discharge from hospital. If a change is identified at the time of re-hospitalization, this process should be confirmed. In addition, it is necessary that any changes in nutritional management should benefit the patient. In order to improve the home care of the present patient, we changed his diet to semisolid enteral nutrition that was easier for him to manage. This diet would also be beneficial for the aspiration-related pneumonia. Importantly, we shared these changes in enteral nutrition with all medical staff involved in his care. This included explaining changes in nutritional content, dose, and method of delivery.

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mental Health Comorbidity Leading to Prolonged Inpatient Admission.

Sam is a 6-year-old boy with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who recently relocated and has an appointment with you, his new pediatric clinician, to establish care. He was previously followed by a psychiatrist for 2 years for additional diagnoses of insomnia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disability. He has tried and (apparently) failed multiple psychotropic trials including stimulants, nonstimulants, mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotics, and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics. He has a delayed sleep onset and frequent night awakenings each night for the past 3 months, during which he "screams, cries, and thrashes and can stay up for over an hour." His behaviors are described as irritable, self-injurious, and aggressive with no clear pattern of triggers according to his mother. He is nonverbal and communicates by leading and rarely pointing. The patient's current medication regimen includes clonidine 0.2 mg at night, lorazepam 1.5 mg as needed at night, olanzapine 5 mg twice daily, and diphenhydramine as needed for sleep/agitation. His mother is concerned that he is developing "tolerance" to the regimen and wants to wean him off some of the medications. His mother is struggling to take care of the patient given his worsening behavior and body habitus (body mass index >99%; z = 3.41).There is a family history of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and autism. He has a 3-year-old sister, who is also diagnosed with ASD, though she is not as severely impacted. His mother's partner recently moved in along with 2 children of his own, aged 3 and 4 years. Sam attends a specialized school, where he receives behavior therapy and occupational therapy. He has undergone inpatient pediatric hospitalization twice, 1 time for 3 weeks and the other for 6 days, for aggressive behavior, and in both instances, he was discharged before inpatient psychiatric placement because of a lack of available beds.After urgent consultation with your local developmental and behavioral pediatrician, a slight reduction was made in the lorazepam because of concerns about tolerance and side effects. However, within a week of this, he was brought to the emergency department for continued self-injurious behavior and increased trouble with sleeping. His mother voiced concerns about his safety in the home, which were particularly related to aggression toward his younger sister. He was admitted to the pediatric inpatient floor for observation, and medication adjustment (increasing olanzapine), which was initially helpful in improving behavior, but mostly behavioral/environmental strategies were used to soothe him, including frequent wagon rides through the hospital corridors.Despite the patient being stable from the medical standpoint, Sam's mother did not feel comfortable taking him home. Social work contacted local community mental health services to pursue outpatient resources and respite care options and sought inpatient pediatric psychiatry. After several failed attempts to find placement, he remained in pediatric inpatient care for 1 and a half months with no acute medical interventions other than his oral medications.He was finally accepted to the in-state pediatric psychiatric facility when a bed was available. During his week-long stay, he had further medication adjustments with a decrease in olanzapine and optimization of his clonidine dose. During his psychiatric hospital stay, care coordination succeeded in arranging center-based applied behavior analysis interventions and respite care and parent training for his family. Sam began to show improvement in his overall agitation and aggression, requiring less clonazepam, and his mother then maintained outpatient follow-up.The day before discharge, you visit him in the hospital, and a medical student asks you why he was in the hospital for so long. How would you answer the question?

[Collaboration of Hospitals and Home Care Providers - Lessons to be Learned from an Actual Case to Enable Patients to Keep Living at Home by Their Own Values].

The aging society has arrived, and home care options are being promoted. To date, because of an increase in the number of patients with higher disability levels in greater need of medical help and senior people living alone or in senior-person households, more patients are in need of discharge support. Many medical institutions cannot consider the option of staying at home and receiving home care services for such patients, and such patients often give up on going home. In the case of service recipients suffering from incurable diseases or disabilities and undergoing age-related changes, it is necessary that they decide on their own"where and how they want to live."For their decision to be respected, a key is collaboration with those who support patient discharge from the hospital and those who support patient home care. This paper explores a patient appropriate for level-3 care with brain hemorrhage and paralysis of the left half of the body. This patient required supportive and adaptive devices, a cane for walking, and constant observation. In consideration of the wishes of the patient and his family, he was allowed to go home.

Eastern Health Alliance

Home Care Service St. Andrew's Community Hospital's Home Care Service attended to the nursing needs of patients residing in the east. These patients were discharged from acute care hospitals or community hospitals and usually have medical histories of strokes, fractures and multiple diseases. Common nursing care provided to them included changing their urinary catheters; nasalgastric tubes for feeding, wound care, dressings, and removal of stitches after a surgery. References External links Eastern Health Alliance - official website Launch of the Eastern Health Alliance - official video Medical and health organisations based in Singapore Singaporean companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Singapore 2018 disestablishments in Singapore

[Discussion on care management operation of a visiting nurse--a case of increased ADL by the support of independent life].

In addition to the visiting nursing service conventionally provided, the Department of Long-term Care Insurance Service of this hospital inaugurated the home care supporting service in April 2000. Senior citizens rated higher in the degree of necessity of care in the initial accreditation and in the renewal accreditation of the Long-term Care Insurance tend to have fewer changes in the services for the last two years. At present, care managers of various professions are involved in the home care supporting services and have no choice but to provide care in non-specialty areas. Under the situation, care management by the visiting nurse helped an elderly increase ADL and live on his own, and the case is introduced in this article. Mr. K.T. developed angina pectoris at the age of 76, had recurrences of complications and repeated transfers of hospitals and was eventually admitted to the hospital. Though he had declined muscular strength and ADL because of the long bed-ridden life, he was discharged from the hospital. Nursing services centered on visiting nursing were provided as the home care supporting service when home medical care for the patient was started. Since Mr. K.T. required medical management, he and his family members were not sure whether it is possible to provide care for him at home and required guidance about health/life and mental supports. Therefore, visiting nursing care was provided by a nurse to assess needs or condition of the person, which reduced anxiety and encouraged the person. As a result, ADL increased and the degree of necessity of care decreased from 4 to 2. This success is attributed to the visiting nurse's appropriate care management based on the medical expertise from the perspective of nursing and the introduction of necessary services at the necessary time based on the appropriate assessment of changes in the physical condition or willingness and the nursing condition of family members. Coordination with the staffs engaged in each service also contributed to the success. As shown by this case, it may be necessary for care managers who can exercise their specialty to be engaged in the service or to change care managers depending on the condition of the care service receiver or considering the specialty of care managers for the benefit of the care service receiver and for the improvement of the efficiency of the operations.

[End-of-life care in special elderly nursing home for very elderly adults in comparison with emergency palliative therapy in general hospitals].

Although the facilities for end-of-life care in the special elderly (SE) nursing home are increasing, there are no standard guidelines for end-of-life care interventions. Furthermore, in the SE nursing home, there are not enough data concerning those who have had end-of-life care and/or emergency hospital palliative therapy. Therefore, we compared the clinical outcome of end-of-life care patients and emergency palliative therapy patients. Five end-of-life care patients (99+/-10 years old) in the SE nursing home, and 48 emergency palliative therapy patients (89+/-15 years old) in the hospitals. All end-of-life care patients are still living after 300+/-70 days by standard nursing care (mainly fluid diets with small doses of vasodilators and antibiotics) with bed side music. Their average CRP values in terminal end-of-life care patients decreased from 10+/-12 mg/dl to 1.2+/-0.5 (p<0.05), serum albumin levels increased from 2.7+/-1.6 g/dl to 3.5+/-2.6 and body mass index increased from 16+/-1.6 to 18.3+/-0.75 (p<0.05). Among 48 emergency hospitalized palliative patients, 32 patients were discharged to our facility after 120+/-26 days of hospitalization, whereas 16 patients died in hospital after 100+/-36 days of hospitalization (aspiration pneumonia: 11 patients, heart failure: 3 patients and G-I causes: 2 patients). End-of-life care in the SE nursing home prolonged their life expectancy despite centenarian status. Hospital mortality rates of palliative emergency therapy were higher than usual end-of-life care. These data suggest that end-of-life care interventions, including bed side music, could provide physical satisfaction.

The Case.

Mr. Hope is a 40-year-old man who has resided at a long-term care facility for the past 10 years. The resident was originally admitted to the nursing home for his inability to care for himself secondary to advanced AIDS and complications from progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). When he initially arrived at the nursing home, Mr. Hope was able to smile and appeared to respond to some of the staff's requests. Now, he responds by wincing when told that procedures are being performed and especially when he is told that he has to go back to the hospital. He is extremely contracted, with his arms wedded to his chest in a crossed fashion, as though he is protecting himself from blows. Mr. Hope's family consists of a partner, his parents, and one sibling. Numerous conversations have been had with the family, and according to the facility staff, "they persist in continuing aggressive measures with the hope that the patient will wake up and walk out of the facility." What had been frequent visits to the local hospital ER have increased substantially in the last few months, for what appear to be new infections and pneumonia. During most visits he ultimately spends a few days in the hospital to resolve his acute issues. On his most recent return to the long-term care facility, the medical staff approached the family about Mr. Hope's code status. The family continues to insist on a full code status and that he be provided every opportunity to "live." The staff is very concerned about Mr. Hope and his welfare. Many of the nursing staff have grown attached to him over the years, and watching him deteriorate has been distressing. They see part of their role as being his advocate and supporting him in ways that his own family has not. They express very strong reservations about performing CPR on Mr. Hope because they think it will be ineffective and they will have to break his upper extremities in order to gain access to his chest for resuscitation. The staff has contacted the ethics consultation service with the request that Mr. Hope needs protection and that his own family is not making the best decisions for him.

[Clinical ethic consultations in longterm care in Upper Austria-5 years report of the Landesverband Hospiz Upper Austria].

Despite the unique nature of ethical issues in a longterm care setting, there is limited help in decision making for nursing home personnel. 2015 the Hospizverband of Upper Austria established a clinical ethic committee to help providing a good quality of decision making in nursing home. A consultation could be asked by the managing nurses of the longterm care institution, by the resident or by relatives of the nursing home residents. Since the start of the ethic committee 24 from 137 nursing homes in Upper Austria asked for a consultation. All consultations came from the personnel of the nursing homes. Beside the nursing team and 1-3 members of the ethic committee, in 75% of the consultations the physician was present. The most often discussed ethical issues were hospital admission (25%), conflicts with relatives of the residents, artificial nutrition (including PEG tube insertion and displacement) and use of restraints. The most underlying illness was dementia (50%). 20% of the residents were competent in their wishes, but none of the involved residents had a written precisely patient decree.

No place like home: A case study of a patient discharged from an Intensive Care Unit for end of life care at home.

Both in the UK and internationally, discharge from an intensive care unit to home for end of life care is a rare and challenging occurrence. These challenges include clinicians' ability to identify appropriate patients in whom it is possible to communicate with about their wishes and preferences, the critical nature of their condition and the interface between hospital and community services. We present a case report of a patient who had been admitted to hospital with a myocardial infarction and subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest, from which he was successfully resuscitated. Subsequently, he suffered multi-organ failure, but despite treatments, the ceiling of care was reached. With a poor prognosis, medical and nursing staff engaged in advance care planning to determine his wishes and preferences at the end of life and to facilitate his discharge from the intensive care unit to his home. This case study has highlighted that through good communication amongst patients, families and professionals and collaborative working across boundaries and organisations, appropriate patients in the critical care setting can have a real choice regarding where they wish to be cared for and die at the end of their life.

Home care

Occasionally, palliative and end-of-life care can be provided through home health nursing. Home health nurses may assist patients with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, toileting, and feeding, or they direct and supervise the aide in providing ADL care. Nurses keep track of vital signs, carry out physician orders, draw blood, document the tasks they perform and the patient’s health status, and communicate between the patient, family, and physician. Some nurses travel to multiple homes per day and provide short visits to multiple patients, while others may stay with one patient for a certain amount of time per day. See also Aging in place Assisted living Home care in the United Kingdom Home care in the United States Healthcare in India References Caregiving

[A useful support through pre-discharge conferences by the people in charge preparing for a successful long-term home care].

An elderly man with contracture of extremities due to cerebral infarction was admitted to a hospital because of both malnutrition and bedsore. His wife was afraid of taking care of him at home after he was discharged from the hospital due to a lack of homecare knowledge. Prior to his discharge, conferences toward a successful homecare by the people concerned from various kinds of professions studied all sorts of risk factors to prevent him from back to hospital soon. Thereby he was successfully cared at home more than one year.

Tube feeding, antibiotics, and hospitalization of nursing home residents with end-stage dementia: Perceptions of key medical decision-makers.

This article discusses the literature supporting the limited use of tube feeding, antibiotics, and hospital transfers of nursing home residents with end-stage dementia. This article also presents the findings of a study that queried 138 nursing home social service staff members in New York State regarding positions taken by key medical decision makers regarding tube feeding, antibiotic use, and hospitalization of nursing home residents with end-stage dementia. Results are discussed in the context of positions taken by experts in palliative and dementia care. According to social service staff perceptions, the majority of these key decision-makers (e.g., administrators, directors of nursing, and medical directors) take positions inconsistent with palliative care experts. Instead, a majority of them were perceived as more likely to encourage tube feeding, antibiotics, and hospitalization of nursing home residents with end-stage dementia. These findings indicate a strong need for educating administrative staff in state-of-the-art care of residents with end-stage dementia.

Long-term ventilation for high-level tetraplegia: a report of 2 cases of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation.

Ventilator-dependent patients with tetraplegia rarely use noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) for long-term ventilation. We report 2 patients with high-level traumatic tetraplegia who were able to return home after being changed from traditional ventilation to NPPV. When they were referred to our hospital from acute care hospitals 2 to 6 months after injury, both were on tracheostomy ventilation with a cuff inflated 24 hours a day, and tidal volume (Vt) settings were low. In case 1, a man with complete C1 tetraplegia was admitted to our hospital 6 months after injury. We changed ventilator settings to high Vt and introduced NPPV. He was discharged home with NPPV with a volume-setting ventilator. Case 2 involved a man in his late twenties with complete C1 tetraplegia who was discharged home with NPPV. After discharge, he trained in glossopharyngeal breathing by himself, enabling him to breathe up to 1900mL of maximum insufflation capacity. Both have lived nearly 1 year without pulmonary complications in the community. They use visiting nurses 3 times a week and services of visiting caregivers. Further study is needed to determine the usefulness of NPPV for long-term ventilatory management.

The decision to withdraw tube feeding.

Physicians involved in the care of elderly patients are often faced with end-of-life decisions including withholding or withdrawal of tube feeding. More than 80% of deaths take place in the hospital or nursing home and the prolongation of life by medical technology has replaced natural processes. We believe the availability of life-sustaining medical technology including tube feeding does not make physicians ethically obligated to use it once it is known that health and function cannot be restored and the burdens outweight the benefits. Patients and their surrogate decision-makers have a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment they find burdensome. Tube feeding as a medical treatment, witholding of tube feeding as equivalent to withdrawal of tube feeding, the benefits versus the burdens of tube feeding, and the decision-making process involved in the withdrawal of medical treatment are considered Hawaii's statutes as they apply to decision-making and examples of cases to illustrate how these concepts are pertinent to patients whom we encounter in clinical practice are discussed.

Respecting patient autonomy versus protecting the patient's health: a dilemma for healthcare providers.

A 74-year-old man with multiple chronic medical problems was hospitalized for respiratory distress. He experienced recurrent aspiration and required frequent suctioning and endotracheal intubation on several occasions. The patient was deemed competent and steadfastly refused feeding tube placement. The patient demanded that he be allowed to eat a normal diet despite being told that it could lead to his death. The patient wanted to go home, but there was no one there to care for him. Additionally, neither a nursing home nor hospice would accept him in his present condition. The case is especially interesting because of the symbolic value of food and the plight of the patient who has no alternative to hospitalization. The hospital staff experienced considerable stress at having to care for him. They were uncertain whether their obligation was to respect his autonomy and continue to provide food or to protect his health by avoiding aspiration, pneumonia, and possible death by denying him food. This ethical dilemma posed by the professionals' duty to do what is in the patient's best interest versus the patient's right to decide treatment serves as the focus for this case study. Ethical, legal, and healthcare practitioners' considerations are explored. The case study concludes with specific recommendations for treatment.

[The present state of the visiting nurse support system of our hospital].

In our hospital, a Visiting Care Service System was started in 1985, and now we have four nurses and one public health nurse. In the first half of 1996, we visited 116 patients. Their average age was 79.5 years-old, and most of them were almost bedridden all day. In 63.8% of these cases, the underlying disease was cerebrovascular. Frequency of visits was once a week in 45.7%, but in the terminal state we visited more frequently almost all days. In 79.3% of these cases, the duration of this service was less than three years, but in a few cases more than 10 years. Some patients were given the following medical care: gastrostomy (39.7%), care of bed sores (29.3%), necessity of suction of sputa (26.7%), urinary drainage tube (13.0%), tracheostomy, home oxygen therapy, home parenteral nutrition therapy, bile drainage tube insertion and so on. Persons providing care were mostly female (87.8%), and most of them were 40 to 60-year-old women. It is important to create a suitable support system to continue treatment at home.