Advance care planning and surrogate health care decision making for older adults

Older adults have a legally recognized right to determine and control the health care they receive and are legally presumed to possess the capacity necessary to make health care decisions. However, older adults are at major risk for life-threatening and serious health problems leading to a loss of their capacity to make end-of-life and other health care decisions. Advance care planning is a process that enables older adults to specify who they want to act as a surrogate decision maker and what decisions they want made for them in the event of incapacitation. Geriatric nurses can play a significant role in promoting advance care planning and the use of legal tools for such planning.