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Advanced care planning refers to all documents that pertain to end-of-life care. These include advance directives and medical orders. Advance directives include documents that mention a health care agent and living wills. These are initiated by the patient. Living wills are written or video statements that outline the health care initiates the person wishes under certain circumstances. Durable power of attorney for health care names the person who should make health care decisions in the event that the patient is incapacitated. In contrast, medical orders are crafted by a medical professional on behalf of a seriously ill patient. Unlike advanced directives, as these are doctor’s orders, they must be followed by other medical personnel. Medical orders include Physician Orders for Life-sustaining Treatment (POLST), do-not-resuscitate, do- not-incubate, or do-not-hospitalize. In some instances, medical orders may be limited to the facility in which they were written. Several states have endorsed POLST so that they are applicable across heath care settings (IOM, 2015).

Refusal of treatment form with a pair of glasses on top
Figure 10.7: Living wills help identify what treatments are acceptable to the patient or which are refused.

For information on advanced directives in Canada please see the following videos

Link Your Learning
For information about creating a valid advance care plan in your province, please see Making an Advance Care Plan,” from Dying With Dignity Canada.

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Lifespan Development: The Human Journey Copyright © 2024 by Humber College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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