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Decision-making in end-of-life care for people living with advanced dementia

When a person living with advanced dementia deteriorates, they are usually unable to communicate their own wishes and preferences, nor participate in decision-making processes. This can make decisions about end-of-life care difficult. 

An evidence-based discussion tool has been developed to support end-of-life shared decision-making, to enable a good death for residents and reduce incidences of moral distress for care staff.

This discussion tool:

  • Enables individual and team reflexive learning, recognising the impact delivering increased levels of end-of-life care has on staff and their ability to influence opportunities to facilitate a good death. 
  • Understands the impact that providing person and relationship-centred care has on nursing home staff when delivering end-of-life care can inform the development of positive support and coping mechanisms.
  • Demonstrates that moral courage can reduce incidences of moral distress by improving opportunities to deliver a good death, which can in turn reduce burnout and staff turn-over.