Successful Clinical Trial Research in Nursing Homes: The Improving Decision-Making Study

摘要

BackgroundOne in four Americans, and 70% of people who have dementia, will spend their final days in nursing home care. Clinical research, particularly clinical trials, rarely includes this population due to unique challenges in research methods and ethics. Families of advanced dementia patients make choices about tube feeding and other feeding options with limited access to information or communication. The cluster randomized trial, Improving Decision Making about Feeding Options for Dementia Patients, tests a decision aid intervention to improve the quality of decision making for this choice.