Introducing Goals of Patient Care in Residential Aged Care Facilities to Decrease Hospitalization: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objectives: The “Goals of Patient Care” (GOPC) process uses shared decision making to incorporate residents' prior advance care planning (ACP) or preferences into medical treatment orders, guiding health care decisions at a time of clinical deterioration should they be unable to voice their opinions. The objective was to determine whether GOPC medical treatment orders were more effective than ACP alone in preventing emergency department (ED) visits (no hospitalization), ED visits (with hospitalization), and deaths outside the residential aged care facility (RACF). Design: The study was a prospective cluster randomized controlled trial, with the intervention being the completion of GOPC proce..