Advanced Care Plan Among Older Chinese in Residential Aged Care: A Retrospective Review.

The study included only 31 residents from two facilities, so it cannot show how well other aged care services document cultural preferences. The records came from forms that did not require detailed cultural or spiritual information, so absence of documentation may reflect the form rather than what was discussed. The study could not tell whether residents actively made decisions or were only present at meetings. Staff retrieved documents, so some advance care planning records may have been missed. The sample was limited to residents documented as Chinese ethnicity, and no information on specific Chinese cultural background was available.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by The University of Newcastle School of Nursing and Midwifery Seed Grant.

Do not read the high advanced health directive completion rate as evidence that cultural needs were captured. The advanced health directive did not include cultural or spiritual information for any resident, and only one separate Buddhist end-of-life document was found.