Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
"Don't get weak in your compassion": bereaved next of kin's suggestions for improving end-of-life care in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
To analyze bereaved next of kin's suggestions for improving end-of-life (EOL) care in Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers (VAMCs). ⋯ Interventions that support staff's ability to convey compassion, communicate information to families and other staff, listen to patients and families, prepare families for the individual's death, and provide consistent, coordinated information regarding after-death activities may optimize EOL hospital care for veterans.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A tool to strengthen the older patient-companion partnership in primary care: results from a pilot study.
To determine the acceptability of a pre-consultation checklist for older adults who attend medical visits with an unpaid companion and to evaluate its effects on visit communication. ⋯ A checklist to elicit and align perspectives of older adults and their companions resulted in enhanced patient-centered medical visit communication.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Executive function processes predict mobility outcomes in older adults.
To examine the relationship between performance on executive function measures and subsequent mobility outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. ⋯ Executive functions of inhibitory control, mental set shifting, and attentional flexibility were predictive of functional mobility. Given the literature associating mobility limitations with disability, morbidity, and mortality, these results are important for understanding the antecedents to poor mobility function that well-designed interventions to improve cognitive performance can attenuate.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
CONNECT for better fall prevention in nursing homes: results from a pilot intervention study.
To determine whether an intervention that improves nursing home (NH) staff connections, communication, and problem solving (CONNECT) would improve implementation of a falls reduction education program (FALLS). ⋯ CONNECT has the potential to improve care delivery in NHs, but the trend toward improving fall rates requires confirmation in a larger ongoing study.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Outcomes of feeding problems in advanced dementia in a nursing home population.
To describe quality of care for feeding problems in advanced dementia and probability and predictors of weight loss and mortality. ⋯ Weight loss is a predictor of death in advanced dementia. Treatments can often stabilize weight, but weight loss should be used to trigger discussion of goals of care and treatment options.