Incidence of advance directives for the elderly admitted to the hospital

Advance directives are legal statements for healthcare choices. The purpose of this study was to review the medical charts of elderly people admitted to the hospital and the incidence of advance directives known as a living will or durable power of attorney for healthcare. The quantitative study utilized a retrospective review of 300 admissions for people greater than 64 years of age. The theoretical framework used is Martha Roger's nursing theory; the Science of Unitary Human Beings. A data collection tool was created by the researcher to record the demographic information along with the frequency of documentation in the patient record. To determine the differences among the observed frequencies in the group, a t-test was used for age differences and a chi-square test was used for race and gender. This study found 22.3% of the sample group had living wills and 35.3% had a durable power of attorney for healthcare at the time of admission to the hospital. The medical staff documented the presence of advance directives for 86.7% of the participants. This study found 21% of the participants were not oriented at the time of admission to the hospital. The recommendations include patient and staff education about the purpose of advance directives and the importance of accurate documentation in the patient medical record.