To What Extent Do Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Reflect Patients' Preferences for Care at the End of Life?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess whether medical orders within Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms reflect patients' preferences for care at the end of life.

Design

This cross-sectional study assessed the agreement between medical orders in POLST forms and the free-form text documentation of an advance care planning conversation performed by an independent researcher during a single episode of hospitalization.

Setting and participants

Inpatients at a single public university hospital, aged 21 years or older, and for whom one of their attending physicians provided a negative answer to the following question: "Would I be surprised if this patient died in the next year?" Data collection occurred between October 2016 and September 2017.

Measures

Agreeme

SUBMITTER: Lovadini GB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8393557 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature