Dementia treatments frequently conflict with residents’ care goals: study

Dementia treatments frequently conflict with residents’ care goals: study 
McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Jessica R. Towhey; 9/30/24 
New research into nursing home care for residents with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias found that they frequently experience costly and burdensome treatments that do not align with their own care goals. Overall, though, researchers found that residents who had comfort-focused orders in their treatment plans did receive goal-concordant care but said that improvements — especially in collecting data — are needed. The study examined the electronic health records for 4,285 long-stay nursing home residents who were diagnosed with moderate to advanced ADRD. The researchers analyzed care records and treatment plans to find comfort-focused orders and other indicators that treatments aligned with residents’ own goals as their health declined. Their results were published this month in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association.