Assessment of advance care planning documentation for residents of residential aged care facilities presenting to the emergency department.

Objective. This study assessed the availability and quality of advance care planning (ACP) documentation among older residential aged care facility (RACF) residents who presented to the emergency department (ED). Methods. A prospective review of the medical records of RACF residents aged 75 years who presented to the ED from May to June 2018 was conducted. Availability of ACP was determined based on the presence of an ACP document inclusive of an advance care directive (ACD) in the medical record. The quality of ACP documentation was determined based on the presence of nine key components. Results. In all, 48.8% of patients presented to the ED with either ACP or an ACD. However, only a mean total of 3.8 (out of 9) ACP components were documented in these documents. Conclusions. Just under half (48.8%) of RACF residents presented to the ED with ACP documentation. There was limited coverage of core ACP components needed to guide clinical decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]