To the Editor: Recent articles in the Journal by Kurrle1 and Finn and colleagues2 referred to advance care directives aiding the management of acute illness in elderly residents of aged care facilities. It is our experience that these directives are often unhelpful in elderly patients and, outside certain progressive medical conditions, can result in triage of elderly patients to inappropriate lower levels of care.
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- Department of Critical Care Medicine, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, SA.
Correspondence: abholt@chariot.net.au
- 1. Kurrle SE. Improving acute care services for older people [editorial]. Med J Aust 2006; 184: 427-428. <MJA full text>
- 2. Finn JC, Flicker L, Mackenzie E, et al. Interface between residential aged care facilities and a teaching hospital emergency department in Western Australia. Med J Aust 2006; 184: 432-435. <MJA full text>
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