From Acute Care to Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Older Adults

Population ageing is increasing the number of older adults living with chronic progressive illness, multimorbidity, frailty, functional decline, and complex care needs. As people live longer, healthcare systems must address not only acute medical events but also long-term symptom burden, quality of life, patient values, and dignity at the end of life.

This webinar explores the continuum from acute medical care to palliative care, end-of-life care, and bereavement support for families. It emphasizes that these forms of care should not be viewed as separate or mutually exclusive stages, but rather as overlapping components of goal-aligned care that evolves according to the patient’s condition, prognosis, wishes, cultural context, and care priorities.

Special attention is given to the early integration of palliative principles into geriatric care, especially for patients with chronic progressive conditions such as heart failure, dementia, cancer, organ failure, and advanced frailty. The session highlights the importance of symptom control, advance care planning, advanced directives, recognition of the dying phase, communication about prognosis, and the avoidance of futile or overly burdensome interventions.

By connecting clinical decision-making with ethical, psychosocial, cultural, and interdisciplinary aspects of care, this session provides clinicians with a practical framework for supporting older adults and their families across the final stages of serious illness while preserving comfort, autonomy, quality of life, and dignity.

*Provided by International Association of Gerontology & Geriatrics (IAGG) & Federation of Geriatric Education (FGE)

Speakers

• Fiona Ecarnot, MD

Learning objectives

• Differentiate between acute care, palliative care, and end-of-life care in older adults.
• Explain why palliative care should be introduced early in the trajectory of serious chronic illness.
• Recognize clinical triggers for palliative care referral, including advanced frailty, recurrent hospitalizations, weight loss, increasing dependency, and declining function.
• Understand the role of advance care planning, advanced directives, and goal-of-care discussions in aligning treatment with patient values.
• Apply interdisciplinary, culturally sensitive communication strategies to support comfort, dignity, and quality of life at the end of life.