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Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)

Indications: - end-of-life planning - to honor the patient's wishes across different settings Procedure: - for use by health care providers - standardized, single page form - documents a conversation between a doctor & a seriously ill patient or their surrogate decision-maker - it is a medical order, signed by a doctor &, depending upon the state, the patient - a POLST form is designed to be actionable throughout an entire community - it is immediately recognizable - can be used by doctors & first responders (paramedics, fire departments, police, emergency rooms, hospitals, nursing homes) Notes: - began in Oregon in 1991 - currently promoted in > 26 states through national & statewide initiatives [3] (2014)

Related

advance directives

General

documentation of advance directives

References

  1. Geriatric Review Syllabus, 8th edition (GRS8) Durso SC and Sullivan GN (eds) American Geriatrics Society, 2013
  2. POLST http://www.polst.org
  3. Wikipedia: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_Orders_for_Life-Sustaining_Treatment
  4. Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) California Healthcare Foundation http://www.chcf.org/projects/2013/polst
  5. National POLST Paradigm Task Force (NPPTF). About the National POLST Paradigm. http://www.polst.org/about-the-national-polst-paradigm/