How Dementia Affects Clinical Decision Making in the Acute Care Setting

A hospitalization is often considered a sentinel event for older adults – especially for those living with moderate to advanced dementia, who have unique challenges. During their stay, clinicians are often balancing the management of dementia and the severity of the acute illness (e.g., pneumonia), while mitigating risks, benefits, alternative treatments, interventions, and procedures of this high risk, vulnerable population. As an interdisciplinary team (IDT), addressing a number of complex clinical decisions with limited evidence for decision-making is imperative, in order to review overall prognosis and ensure interventions are aligned with a patient’s goals of care.

In this Master Clinician session, Martine Sanon, MD, and Anne Kleinman, LMSW, will discuss how a geriatric IDT can support patients living with dementia (and their families) during hospitalization. This includes making complex clinical decisions with anticipated care trajectories, and reframing clinical care to align with a patients’ goals.