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The impact of advance care planning on end of life care in elderly patients: randomised controlled trial
Part of BMJ
Independent publisher
This describes who publishes a source, not how reliable it is.
Open source (opens in a new tab)Link checked August 2026
About this source
A randomised trial testing whether structured advance care planning changes the end of life care elderly hospital patients receive and how their families cope afterwards.
Where this source is used
Used in 4 places across 2 domains.
Questions
Medical Care
End-of-Life Care
- How can we make sure the person's wishes are understood and respected?
Supports this
“Recording wishes in advance eases the burden on the family who would otherwise have to decide.”
In the same trial, the relatives of people who died after advance care planning had measurably less stress, anxiety and depression afterwards than the relatives in the usual care group. Again, these were elderly hospital patients rather than people with MND.
In the intervention group, family members of patients who died had significantly less stress (intervention 5, control 15; P<0.001), anxiety (intervention 0, control 3; P=0.02), and depression (intervention 0, control 5; P=0.002) than those of the control patients.
Abstract - How can we make sure the person's wishes are understood and respected?
Supports this
“Discussing wishes, recording them in advance and getting them to the people who will need them makes it more likely they are followed.”
A randomised trial of facilitated advance care planning in 309 hospital patients aged 80 and over in Australia. Among those who died within six months, wishes were known and followed roughly three times as often in the group offered planning. The participants were elderly hospital inpatients, not people with MND.
Of the 56 patients who died by six months, end of life wishes were much more likely to be known and followed in the intervention group (25/29, 86%) compared with the control group (8/27, 30%; P<0.001).
Abstract
Planning
Advance Care Planning
- Why is advance care planning worth doing?
Supports this
“Recording your wishes makes it more likely that the care you get later follows your values and choices.”
A randomised trial of advance care planning in 309 hospital patients aged 80 and over in Australia. Of those who died within six months, the group offered planning had their end of life wishes known and followed far more often than the group who were not. The trial was not in ALS or MND.
Of the 56 patients who died by six months, end of life wishes were much more likely to be known and followed in the intervention group (25/29, 86%) compared with the control group (8/27, 30%; P<0.001).
Abstract - Why is advance care planning worth doing?
Supports this
“Knowing what you would have wanted eases the burden on the family who may have to decide for you.”
In the same trial, relatives of people who died after advance care planning had significantly less stress, anxiety and depression than relatives in the usual care group. Again, the participants were elderly hospital patients, not people with ALS or MND.
In the intervention group, family members of patients who died had significantly less stress (intervention 5, control 15; P<0.001), anxiety (intervention 0, control 3; P=0.02), and depression (intervention 0, control 5; P=0.002) than those of the control patients.
Abstract
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