265 Awareness of Enduring Power of Attorney in a Frail Older Population Presenting Through the Emergency Department. (16th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baburaj, Binish; Pender, Ciara; Cooney, Eamonn; Maher, Jennifer; Sayers, Karen; Ryan, Siobhan; Donnellan, Christina; Pillay, Isweri
• Is Part Of: Age and ageing. Volume 48(2019)Supplement 3
• Page Start: iii17
• Page End: iii65
• Publication Date: 2019-09-16
• Subjects: Aging -- Periodicals; Geriatrics -- Periodicals; 618.97
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afz103.165
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-0729

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Enduring Power of attorney (EPA) is a simple legal document. A person can choose a specific individual(s) to take care of both personal and financial affairs in the event of losing mental capacity in the future. The objective of this study is to understand what proportion of frail older patients has either an EPA or an awareness of EPA Methods: Consecutive emergency department (ED) patients identified as Variable Indicative of Placement (1) positive at triage, were assessed using an interdisciplinary assessment tool (IAT) for 2 months (February 2019 to March 2019). Age, gender, Clinical Frailty Score (CFS) and awareness of EPA were recorded on an Excel database. Simple descriptive statistics were used Results: 150 patients with a mean (SD) age of 83.1(7.4) were assessed by the multidisciplinary team. The female to male ratio was 1.2:1. The mean (SD) CFS was 5.5(1.2). 56 patients were asked about EPA. 96 patients were not asked about EPA. 27% (n=14) patients had an EPA in place and one was in the process of making it. 41 patients neither had an EPA nor awareness of EPA. There was no gender difference between groups Conclusion: This is the first Irish and international study assessing the awareness of EPA in patients presenting to ED.In this small sample of frail older patients, a quarter of those asked had an EPA. A hospital admission represents an opportunity to discuss future care planning, including EPA. The majority of patients were not asked about EPA by the assessor, as it was felt to be inappropriate at the assessment time. A patient centred approach to introducing these difficult but important discussions needs to be developed.