title: Considering elderly competence when consenting to treatment.
abstract: The older adult population is growing rapidly with various comorbidities for health care providers to consider. Additional treatments and procedures are often implemented to care for the aging adults with comorbidities. Informed consent is involved with any invasive procedure or treatment and requires a cognizant patient who can give verbal or written consent, often a challenge for caregivers of the elderly. This article provides examples of assessment tools to utilize while assessing the older adults. Increased awareness of the available options to aid in determining cognitive function of the older adults is paramount when obtaining informed consent.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Palm Beach Atlantic University, 901 S. Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach, FL 33416, USA. christine_brooks@pba.edu
authors.forename: Christine L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D016743:Mental Competency