We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN DISCHARGE PLANNING FOR PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE.
- Authors
Cummings, Sherry M.; Cockerham, Clifford
- Abstract
The article discusses ethical dilemmas in discharge planning for patients with Alzheimer's disease. It examines how these dilemmas evolve as the illness progresses and presents a clinical model for ethical decision-making. It states that discharge planning has become even more critical to patient welfare since the introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in 1983. DRGs gave rise to the trend toward decreased lengths of patient hospital stays. Ethical dilemmas in discharge planning are associated with the development of less-than-adequate discharge plans. The progressive nature of Alzheimer's disease creates an evolving situation that evokes differential application of ethical principles over time. Ethical considerations that arise during an early phase of the illness become less relevant in a later phase. New questions arise as the progressive changes produced by the disease unfold. Three basic ethical principles used in discharge planning of Alzheimer's disease patients, which are autonomy, beneficence and justice.
- Subjects
HOSPITAL admission &; discharge; DECISION making; ETHICS; DILEMMA; ALZHEIMER'S disease; PATIENTS
- Publication
Health & Social Work, 1997, Vol 22, Issue 2, p101
- ISSN
0360-7283
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/hsw/22.2.101