Advance care planning is the basis for delivering person-centred end of life care that accords with the wishes of the individual. It is important to support people with dementia in developing an advance care plan, since they may lose the capacity to make decisions associated with this early in the disease process. Healthcare policy indicates that we should all consider our wishes for end of life care. However, this may not be straightforward for people with dementia. This article considers the main issues in enabling advance care planning with people with dementia, reviews the limited evidence and offers possible solutions.
Nursing Standard. 29, 51, 41-46. doi: 10.7748/ns.29.51.41.e10060
Correspondencekaren.harrison-dening@dementiauk.org
Peer reviewAll articles are subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software.
Received: 26 March 2015
Accepted: 20 May 2015
or
Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now
Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more