“I know you didn’t want to stay”: Emergency Department conversations about disposition for people living with dementia

“I know you didn’t want to stay”: Emergency Department conversations about disposition for people living with dementia
The Gerontologist; by Justine Seidenfeld, Matthew Tucker, Melissa Harris-Gersten, Gemmae M Fix, Nina R Sperber, Susan N Hastings; 8/25
When people living with dementia present to the emergency department (ED), the disposition decision- to admit them to the hospital or discharge them home- can be difficult for providers. Major themes included 1) disposition conversations had significant variation in depth and content, 2) patient and care partner participation varied with disposition, and 3) satisfaction was driven by alignment of disposition preferences. Our study suggests that there are no consistent formats of disposition conversations for people living with dementia. Improving quality may be most needed when preferences are misaligned, and this should be identified early in the encounter.