Prehospital treatment decisions for critically ill patients with dementia
Lauren R Pollack, Jamie T Nomitch, Whitney Kiker, Ruth A Engelberg, Danae Dotolo, Lyndia Brumback, May Reed, Nicholas Johnson, Michael Sayre, Erin Kross · 2025
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Description
Lauren Pollack and co-authors examine what paramedics know when they reach a critically ill patient with dementia. Most patients and families prefer comfort-focused care near the end of life, yet breathing tubes and ventilators are used ever more often in this group, with no matching gain in survival. Their 2025 study reads ambulance narratives for eighty-one such patients treated in one health system.
The patients averaged eighty years old, about half lived in nursing homes, and most showed signs of advanced dementia. Breathing trouble, confusion, and suspected sepsis were the top reasons for the call. Crews noted the dementia history in only about a third of cases, a substitute decision-maker in a fifth, and any advance directive in about a fifth. The authors say crews often lack the facts needed to match care to the patient's wishes.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Lauren R Pollack, Jamie T Nomitch, Whitney Kiker, Ruth A Engelberg, Danae Dotolo, Lyndia Brumback, May Reed, Nicholas Johnson, Michael Sayre, Erin Kross |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 3 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |