Family health care decision making and self-efficacy with patients with ALS at the end of life.

Objective: Persons with ALS differ from those with other terminal illnesses in that they commonly retain capacity for decision making close to death. The role patients would opt to have their families play in decision making at the end of life may therefore be unique. This study compared the preferences of patients with ALS for involving family in health care decisions at the end of life with the actual involvement reported by the family after death.

Transitional care for seriously mentally ill persons: a pilot study.

This article reports the results of a pilot study of a nurse-based in-home transitional care intervention for seriously mentally ill persons. The goals of the intervention were to address the lack of continuity of care in existing programs and to meet the immediate postdischarge needs of severely mentally ill persons. This article focuses primarily on the applicability and feasibility of the intervention for this population, given the challenges of engaging seriously mentally ill patients in a community-based protocol and the complexity of their illnesses.