STRENGTHENING ADVANCE CARE PLANNING THROUGH INNOVATIVE POLICYMAKING, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH

An introduction to advance care planning in practice.

Advance care planning has been defined as a process of formal decision making that aims to help patients establish decisions about future care that take effect when they lose capacity. It recently gained increased importance in the United Kingdom, after being recommended by the end of life care strategy. The first national guidance for health and social care staff in the UK was produced in 2007...

Should research be part of advance care planning?

Advance care planning is a process to help people to formulate and communicate their preferences regarding future care during critical illness. Reviews of the advance care planning process in its current form have been disappointing. Improvements in care at the end of life and palliative care are necessary for the provision of modern medical care. Medical research has led to many improvements a...

Advance care planning in primary care.

Quality of advance care planning policy and practice in residential aged care facilities in Australia

OBJECTIVES To assess existing advance care planning (ACP) practices in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in Victoria, Australia before a systematic intervention; to assess RACF staff experience, understanding of and attitudes towards ACP. DESIGN Surveys of participating organisations concerning ACP-related policies and procedures, review of existing ACP-related documentation, and pre-i...

Advance care planning and the older patient.

Making treatment decisions for older people is difficult, because of the complex interplay of their multiple co-morbidities, but also because of the fine balance of risks vs. benefit in any chosen management plan. This becomes even more difficult when they lose the capacity to tell us what they want, and often in such situations we have to rely on information from others in order to make decisi...