What is the most common fluid/electrolyte disorder of frail elders, both in long-term care settings and in the community?
Dehydration is the most common fluid/electrolyte disorder of frail elders, and it is both underrecognized and undertreated. • Should dehydration be given as the cause of death on the death certificate of a terminally ill patient who was dehydrated before he died? Although dehydration may have occurred in a terminally ill patient, the death certificate should not give dehydration as the cause of death but should identify the precipitating illness or underlying condition that resulted in the patient’s death. • Do federal regulations require long-term care facilities to maintain adequate hydration for all residents in a long-term care facility? Federal regulations require long-term care facilities to maintain adequate hydration for all residents except in select circumstances such the following: a disease process (e.g., terminal cancer) interferes with adequate nutrition and hydration; a new disease process superimposed on preexisting conditions causes malnutrition and dehydration; and th
