scholarly journals Positive attitudes to advance care planning – a Norwegian general population survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trygve Johannes L. Sævareid ◽  
Reidar Pedersen ◽  
Morten Magelssen

Abstract Background Authorities recommend advance care planning and public acceptance of it is a prerequisite for widespread implementation. Therefore, we did the first study of the Norwegian public with an aim of getting knowledge on their attitudes to issues related to advance care planning. Methods An electronic survey to a nationally representative web panel of Norwegian adults. Results From 1035 complete responses (response rate 40.7%), we found that more than nine out of ten of the general public wanted to participate in advance care planning, believed it to be useful for many, and wanted to make important healthcare decisions themselves. Almost nine out of ten wanted to be accompanied by next of kin during advance care planning. Most (69%) wanted health care personnel to initiate advance care planning and preferred it to be timed to serious illness with limited lifetime (68%). Only about 9% stated that health care personnel should have the final say in healthcare decisions in serious illness. Conclusions Developing and implementing advance care planning as a public health initiative seems warranted based on the results of this study. Patient perspectives should be promoted in decision-making processes. Nevertheless, training of health care personnel should emphasise voluntariness and an individual approach to initiating, timing and conducting advance care planning because of individual variations.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbeth Thoresen ◽  
Reidar Pedersen ◽  
Lillian Lillemoen ◽  
Elisabeth Gjerberg ◽  
Reidun Førde

Abstract Background 52% of all deaths in Norway occur in nursing homes. Still advance care planning (ACP) is scarce and heterogeneous. To improve the implementation and practice of ACP in nursing homes, knowledge about health care professionals’ views on ACP is vital. The objective of this study is to explore nurses and physicians’ aims and experiences with carrying out ACP in nursing homes. Methods Semi-structured group interviews were conducted with 20 health care professionals, recruited from nursing homes where ACP was performed regularly. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results The primary aim of the nursing home professionals when doing ACP in nursing homes were to build alliances with next of kin to avoid misunderstandings and future conflicts. Two main experiences with ACP were described: i) due to the sensitivity of ACP issues, it was important to balance directness with being sensitive, and ii) when the physicians raised questions concerning future medical treatment, the answers from residents as well as next of kin were often hesitant and unclear. Conclusion Our study add insights into how ACP is practiced in nursing homes and the professionals’ agenda. A focus on medical issues and achieving consensus with next of kin may result in lack of involvement of the residents and limited awareness of the residents’ needs. Interdisciplinary approaches, ACP-training and tailored guidelines may improve the implementation and practice of ACP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. e211829
Author(s):  
Joel S. Weissman ◽  
Amanda J. Reich ◽  
Holly G. Prigerson ◽  
Priscilla Gazarian ◽  
Jennifer Tjia ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Yeun-Sim Jeong ◽  
Tomiko Barrett ◽  
Se Ok Ohr ◽  
Peter Cleasby ◽  
Ryan Davey

Abstract Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) enables healthcare professionals to embrace the important process where patients think about their values in life and goals for health care, and discuss their future health care preferences with family members for a time when they are not able to make health care decisions. Despite the promotion of ACP last two decades, and well-known benefits of ACP and a written Advance Care Directive (ACD), they are still underutilised in Australia and across the world. Previous studies have provided some insights, however, an uptake of ACP and prevalence of ACDs in community setting is rarely reported.Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the uptake of ACP and prevalence of ACDs among people with chronic diseases in hospital and community settings. A retrospective medical record audit of eligible patients looking for evidence of ACP was conducted in 16 research sites (eight intervention and eight control) in hospital and community care settings. Participants included those who were admitted to one of the research sites, and who were aged 18 years and over with at least one of nine nominated chronic diseases. The primary outcome measures included the number of patients with evidence of ACP through the following practices: completion of an ACD, appointment of an Enduring Guardian (EG), or completion of a resuscitation plan. Results: The overall prevalence of ACD was 2.8% (n=28) out of 1006 audited records, and only 10 of them were legally binding. The number of EGs legally appointed was 39 (3.9%) across the sites. A total of 151 (15.4%) resuscitation plans were found across the eight hospital sites. 95% (n=144) of the resuscitation plans advised ‘Not-for-resuscitation’. Conclusions: The uptake of ACP is very low. Current medical recording system reveals the challenges in ACP lie in the process of storage, access and execution of the ACDs. Given that having an ACD or EG in place is only useful if the treating physician knows how and where to access the information, it has implications for policy, information system, and healthcare professionals’ education. Trial registration: The study was retrospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Trial ID: ACTRN12618001627246). The URL of the trial registry record http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial/MyTrial.aspx


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1565-1571
Author(s):  
Marjorie Bowman ◽  
Sarah St. Cyr ◽  
Adrienne Stolf i

Objective: To understand how health-care providers’ (HCPs) religious preferences influence their willingness to undertake advance care planning (ACP) with patients and their acceptance of other HCP’s involvement. Methods: Online anonymous survey distributed to HCPs in hospital, ambulatory offices, and hospice settings in Dayton, Ohio. We evaluated the associations of HCP religion with their personal ACP, willingness to facilitate ACP, and acceptance of other HCPs’ ACP participation. Results: 704 respondents: nurses (66.2%), physicians (18.8%), other HCPs (15.0%), white (88.9%), and primarily Catholic (23.3%) or Protestant (32.0%). “No religion” was marked by 13.9%. Respondents were favorable to ACP with patients. Religious respondents were more likely to have a living will ( P = .035) and health-care power of attorney ( P = .007) and more accepting of clergy as ACP decision coaches ( P = .030). HCP’s religion was not associated with willingness to facilitate ACP discussions. There were minor differences between Catholics and Protestants. Conclusions: Personal religious preference is associated with HCP’s own ACP but had little relationship with their willingness to facilitate ACP conversations with patients or acceptance of other professional types of HCPs involvement in ACP conversations. Regardless of religious affiliation, HCPs have interest in undertaking ACP and endorse other HCPs ACP involvement. As results of this study suggest that personal religious affiliation is not a barrier for HCPs engaging in ACP with patients, attempts to overcome barriers to increasing ACP should be directed to other factors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 946-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Arnett ◽  
Rebecca L. Sudore ◽  
David Nowels ◽  
Cindy X. Feng ◽  
Cari R. Levy ◽  
...  

Background: Interprofessional health care team members consider advance care planning (ACP) to be important, yet gaps remain in systematic clinical routines to support ACP. A clearer understanding of the interprofessional team members’ perspectives on ACP clinical routines in diverse settings is needed. Methods: One hundred eighteen health care team members from community-based clinics, long-term care facilities, academic clinics, federally qualified health centers, and hospitals participated in a 35-question, cross-sectional online survey to assess clinical routines, workflow processes, and policies relating to ACP. Results: Respondents were 53% physicians, 18% advanced practice nurses, 11% nurses, and 18% other interprofessional team members including administrators, chaplains, social workers, and others. Regarding clinical routines, respondents reported that several interprofessional team members play a role in facilitating ACP (ie, physician, social worker, nurse, others). Most (62%) settings did not have, or did not know of, policies related to ACP documentation. Only 14% of settings had a patient education program. Two-thirds of the respondents said that addressing ACP is a high priority and 85% felt that nonphysicians could have ACP conversations with appropriate training. The clinical resources needed to improve clinical routines included training for providers and staff, dedicated staff to facilitate ACP, and availability of patient/family educational materials. Conclusion: Although interprofessional health care team members consider ACP a priority and several team members may be involved, clinical settings lack systematic clinical routines to support ACP. Patient educational materials, interprofessional team training, and policies to support ACP clinical workflows that do not rely solely on physicians could improve ACP across diverse clinical settings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 682-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Jordan ◽  
Adreanne Brungardt ◽  
Phoutdavone Phimphasone-Brady ◽  
Hillary D. Lum

Background:Patient portals can offer patients an opportunity to engage in the advance care planning (ACP) process outside of clinical visits.Objective:To describe patient perspectives on use of patient portal-based ACP tools.Design:Interviews with patients who used portal-based ACP tools. The tools included an electronic Medical Durable Power of Attorney (MDPOA) form to designate a medical decision maker, a patient-centered educational web page, online messaging, and patient access to completed advance directives stored in the electronic health record (EHR).Setting:Regional health-care system with a common EHR.Measurements:Semistructured interviews with purposefully sampled patients who used the ACP tools. Questions explored motivations for using the tools and perceptions about how the tools fit into ACP. Analysis followed a grounded hermeneutic editing approach.Results:From 46 patients (mean age: 49, 63% female), 4 key themes emerged: (1) individualized explorations of the ACP tools, (2) personal initiation and engagement with ACP tools through the portal, (3) value of connecting ACP portal tools to clinical care, and (4) practicality of the ACP tools. Patients described benefits of communicating with health-care team members who referred them to online ACP tools, as well as having the electronic MDPOA form connected to clinical care.Conclusions:Patients considered the portal-based ACP tools to be practical and feasible to use within the scope of their own ACP experiences. Further study is needed to understand whether portal-based ACP tools increase the quality and quantity of ACP conversations and documentation that is available to inform medical decision-making.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (31_suppl) ◽  
pp. 76-76
Author(s):  
Jeff Myers ◽  
Suzanne Strasberg ◽  
Kathi Carroll ◽  
Zabin Dhanji ◽  
Ingrid Harle ◽  
...  

76 Background: In Ontario, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care’s (MOHLTC) uses Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs) to drive system improvement aimed at providing high value, high quality care for all. To support the introduction of QIPs into the primary care sector, Cancer Care Ontario has developed an Advance Care Planning (ACP) toolkit for practices that include ACP as part of their annual QIP. ACP is an ongoing and dynamic process that involves a capable individual reflecting on their current values and beliefs for their health care, communicating their personal wishes for future health care and identifying an individual who will make decisions on their behalf in the event that they are unable to provide informed consent. The process is iterative and wishes may change over time with changes in health status. Methods: The ACP QIP was developed based on the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle of continuous quality improvement. The ACP QIP provides primary care practices with detailed instructions on how to implement, monitor and report on an ACP Quality Improvement initiative. Importantly, the ACP QIP provides guidance and practical tools for developing objectives, establishing targets, and identifying measures and baselines for performance. CCO is actively promoting the ACP QIP in an effort to encourage uptake and broad adoption across Ontario. Results: There is now evidence that with ACP there is a greater likelihood EOL wishes will be both known and followed resulting in improved EOL care. ACP is also associated with decreased distress among the family members. Conclusions: Creating an ACP QIP supports primary care’s focus on advancing quality patient care. Importantly, implementing the ACP QIP into primary care practices has the potential to improve EOL care and secondarily reduce health care costs ultimately working towards achieving the triple aim of “better care, better health, and lower costs”.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (29_suppl) ◽  
pp. 125-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Levin ◽  
Michael Ries ◽  
Jeffrey B Rubins ◽  
Andres Wiernik

125 Background: Advance health care directives (AHCDs) are recommended by ASCO as a strategy to improve compliance with patient wishes at the end-of-life, thereby facilitating appropriate use of health care resources. We already know too few cancer patients complete AHCDs, but we know less about barriers to their completion. This study assessed the frequency with which AHCDs were completed in different ethnic groups and whether hospice enrollment varied by ethnicity. Methods: Retrospective analysis conducted at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN with review of the cancer registry data from 2008 to 2013. Data were collected for deceased patients with stage III-IV cancer from the time of diagnosis through death. Demographics, AHCD, hospital deaths, enrollment in hospice, and individual patient data were analyzed using logistic regression, adjusting for both race and language as covariates. Results: From 2008 to 2013, there were 273 patients diagnosed with stage III-IV cancer and followed through death. Fourteen percent of patients were non-English speaking. Thirty-one percent were African American (AA), 4% were Hispanic, and 4% were Asian. Only 21% of patients completed an AHCD during their care, and none were Asian or Hispanic. English speakers were almost five times more likely than non-English speakers to have an AHCD (OR = 4.66, 95% CI = (1.06, 20.46), p = 0.04). Fifty-one percent of English-speaking patients enrolled in hospice compared to 39% of non-English-speaking patients (p = 0.08). Sixty percent of patients with an AHCD enrolled in hospice compared to 46% of those patients without an AHCD (p = 0.10). Forty-three percent of patients with an AHCD died in the hospital, 33% of whom died in an intensive care unit (ICU), versus 46% without an AHCD, 49% of whom died in an ICU. Of patients with advanced cancer, 46% died in the hospital and 21% died in the intensive care unit (ICU). Conclusions: Non-English-speaking patients are far less likely to have an AHCD than English speakers. Some ethnicities in our study had no patients with an AHCD. Since completing an AHCD may increase hospice enrollment and decrease ICU deaths, strategies to promote advance care planning are urgently needed, particularly with non-English speaking patients.


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