INCLUDING PATIENT PREFERENCES IN NURSES ASSESSMENT OF OLDER PATIENTS

The refinement of a patient assessment tool for older patients, Lorens en's Self-Care Capability Scale, is described where a systematic elici tation of patient preferences is included in the assessment. This stud y tests a decision analytic approach as a strategy for formalizing sub jective judgement, which makes it possible to include patients' own va lues and preferences in planning patient care. Applying this technique to patient assessment contributes to explicitly tailoring nursing car e decisions to desired outcomes as preferred by individual patients. A shared approach to decision making between nurse and patient ensures a mutual understanding about goals, priorities and patient values thro ugh discussion and negotiation. This pilot study supported the merit o f including patient preferences systematically in the assessment of ol der patients. The method provides an important decision aid for nurses in planning nursing care in accordance with patients' own values and preferences for care.