Geriatrics Commons^™

Enhancing The Rates Of Advance Directive Documentation To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care, Sydney Sheppard, Katie Salyers, Carolyn Curtis, Adam Franks Franks, Courtney Wellman

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Introduction

Advance Directives (AD) allow patients to maintain autonomy during incapacitation. Patients and their caregivers benefit from these documents in times of crisis. Overcoming barriers to AD completion and documentation can improve patient care quality.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was performed initially, after consolidation of the electronic health record (EHR) and after alteration of the EHR, to evaluate the availability of a patient’s medical power of attorney (MPOA), living will (LW), and code status.

Results

Baseline documentation of MPOA (7.33%), LW (6.00%), and code status (5.33%) within the outpatient EHR was low. After 2 cycles, this improved to 13.10%, …

Emergency Medicine Provider Comfort With Physician Orders For Life Sustaining Treatment (Polst) Advanced Directive, Katherine Briggie, Kaitlin Sweeney, Shannon Findlay, Hao Wang, Juan Pagan-Ferrer, Dan Miller, Sangil Lee

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Background

Emergency departments (ED) across the United States see many patients with advanced disease nearing the end of life. ED providers make many important decisions that impact a patient’s hospital course, including resuscitation decisions. When patients’ preferences are not known, treatment in the ED frequently defaults to maximally aggressive care. The Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form has been shown to lead to more goal-concordant care for these patients by providing detailed instructions regarding end-of-life interventions, made by the patient and/or medical decision maker.

Methods

In this needs assessment study, we aimed to determine the level of awareness …