title: [Healthcare preferences of the very elderly: A review].
abstract: The preferences of the very elderly are not taken into account in healthcare planning. For this reason, a medical literature review was performed in order to fill the gap in appropriate information on this issue. The majority of them think that they receive good healthcare. They favour building a trusting relationship, with the physician handling their decision-making. They also maximise their quality of life at the expense of quantity, and give great importance to comfort and safety. Most of them express the wish to be cared for and die at home. But when an acute event occurs, they want to be transferred to hospital. More explicit communication must be encouraged between very elderly patients, providers, and families to meet their subjective needs, through on-going discussions, focused on expected outcomes and patient care goals. A healthcare system designed to look after them should be based on individual and flexible care, with coordination between healthcare services. Such a healthcare system could enable a growing number of them to die in their preferred conditions.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Geriatría, Hospital Nuestra Señora del Prado, Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, España. Electronic address: juanherrerat@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herrera-Tejedor
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D057240:Patient Preference
keywords: Advanced care planning; Aged, 80 and over; Anciano de 80 o más años; Clinical ethics; End-of-life preferences; Lugar de muerte; Place of death; Planificación anticipada de los cuidados; Preferencias al final de la vida; Ética clínica