“Now I don’t have to guess”: Using Pamphlets to encourage residents and families/friends to engage in advance care planning in long-term care
Advance care planning (ACP) helps individuals with progressive, life-limiting illnesses communicate their preferences for end-of-life (EOL) care to family members and healthcare providers. Despite known benefits, ACP is rarely utilized in LTC settings. To address the barriers of ACP in LTC, our team developed, implemented, and evaluated the effects of disease-specific illness trajectory pamphlets (ITPs) for five life-limiting advanced clinical syndromes of high prevalence in LTC: dementia, heart failure, COPD, renal failure, and frailty.