Role of Nativity in End of Life Care Planning

Given the rapidly aging population, optimal end-of-life (EOL) consistent with individual wishes is a public health priority. Advanced Care Planning (ACP) involves Advanced Directives (AD) and establishing a Power of Attorney (POA). AD describe EOL Care preferences including options to limit treatment, withhold treatment, provide comfort care, and prolong treatments. Nativity can provide meaningful guidance in decision-making at the end of life. Data from this study came from the Health and Retirement Study, nationally representative longitudinal study of U.S. residents. The sample included 4,015 older adults, 65 and above years of age who died during study follow-up. Nativity was categorized as U.S born and Foreign born. ACP variables included presence of AD and POA, and EOLC preferences included provide comfort care, limit, withhold, or prolong treatment. Covariates included age, gender, race, marital status, education, and subjective health at baseline. Cox Proportional Hazards (Cox PH) and Weibull Models were used to identify associations between nativity and end of life care. Results: Compared to U.S born, Foreign born participants were less likely to have POA (HR: 0.75; 95% CI:0.64-0.89) in Cox PH and POA (HR: 0.63; 95 % CI:0.53-0.75) Weibull models in unadjusted models, limited treatment (HR: 1.58; 95 % CI: 1.2, 2.1), and prolong treatment (HR: 0.23; 95 % CI:0.06-0.99) and Cox PH and (HR: 0.20; 95 % CI: 0.05-0.83) in Weibull modes. Conclusion: There are differences in Advanced Care Planning by nativity. Country of origin should be considered when helping individuals plan for end-of-life care.

Prevalence of advanced directives in the geriatric population with in long-term care facilities in the United States

Advanced directives, such as Living Wills and Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders, provide the ability to identify, respect, and implement an individual's wishes for medical care during serious illness or end-of-life care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of advanced directives amongst the residents of long-term care facilities in the United States. A total of 527 cases were extracted from 2018 National Study of Long-Term Care Providers, which was collected by the National Center for Health Statistics through the surveys of residential care communities and adult day services centers. Advanced directive rates were higher in patients 90 years of age and above as compared to other age groups. Nursing home residents were more likely to have advanced directives than other long term care facilities. There was no significant difference among males and females in the rate of advanced directives. Nursing home and Hospice residents had more advanced directives compared to other facilities. The Black population had the highest rate of advanced directive preparedness. Overall, the finding of this study revealed that there was a significant difference in the preparedness of DNR orders and Living Wills by patient demographics and the type of long-term care facility. Offering advanced directive services at public health/social services facilities can enhance the rate of advanced directive preparedness. Advanced directives ease the stress and anxiety of patients, family, and friends during difficult times.

Advance Directives Document: knowledge and experiences of healthcare professionals in Colombia

Introduction: The Advanced Directives Document (ADD) is a bioethical quality benchmark for healthcare and assurance of compliance with the rights of autonomy, self-determination and dignity of the patient. This document was established over the past decade and currently there is no evidence about the attitudes and knowledge of the healthcare professionals with regards to the use of this tool in clinical practice in Colombia. Objective: To describe the knowledge and experiences of healthcare professionals members of six Colombian Scientific Societies regarding the right to sign an ADD and explore the barriers to its applicability in clinical daily practice. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted using an anonymous and voluntary e-survey with the participation of six Colombian Medical Societies. A questionnaire was designed comprising five groups of variables: general, ADD knowledge, medical experiences and personal experiences regarding advanced directives and potential obstacles to its implementation. Results: 533 professionals participated in the survey. 54 % (n = 286) expressed their lack of awareness about the fact that there is law governing the ADD in Colombia; 34.33 % (n = 183) said they were familiar with the requirements of the document. Over the last year, 24 % of the professionals received one or more ADDs from their patients. Only 11.7 % of healthcare practitioners had themselves completed an ADD. 77.1 % of the professionals surveyed believe that the number of individuals with an ADD has not changed after the approval and regulation of the right to an advanced directives document. 86.6 % of the practitioners said they respected the ADD, notwithstanding the fact that the patient could benefit otherwise. Conclusions: The overall perception of healthcare professionals with regards to the number of ADDs signed by patients is that the number has not changed after the approval of the Law in Colombia. This study evidenced that medical practitioners have a poor knowledge about the ADD and that there is a need to educate healthcare professionals about the ADD and to promptly implement institutional programs about Planning of Advanced Directives (PAD). Both strategies are challenging for the applicability of AD in Colombia.

Perceptions of Patients and Their Families Regarding Limitation of Therapeutic Effort in the Intensive Care Unit

Objective: Our objective was to determine and describe the opinion and attitudes of patients and their families regarding the limitation of therapeutic effort and advanced directives in critical patients and whether end-of-life planning occurs. Religious affiliation, education level, and pre-admission quality of life were also evaluated to determine whether they may influence decisions regarding appropriate therapeutic effort. Methods: A prospective, observational and descriptive study, approved by the center’s ethical committee, was carried out with 257 participants (94 patients and 163 family members) in the intensive care unit (ICU). A questionnaire regarding the opinions of patients and relatives about situations of therapeutic appropriateness in case of poor prognosis or poor quality of life was used. The questionnaire had three sections. In the first section, sociodemographic features were investigated. In the second section, information was collected on the quality of life and functional situation before ICU admission (taking as a reference the situation one month before admission) assessed by the Karnofsky scale, Barthel index, and the PAEEC scale (Project for the Epidemiological Analysis of Critical Care Patients). The third section aimed to determine whether the family knew the patient’s opinion regarding his/her end of life. Results: Of those interviewed, 62.2% would agree to limit treatment in case of poor prognosis or poor quality of future life. In contrast, 37.7% considered that they should fight for life, even if it is irretrievable. Only 1.6% had advanced directives registered, 43.9% of the participants admitted deterioration in their quality of life before ICU admission, 18.2% with moderate-severe deterioration. Our study shows that the higher the educational level, the lower the desire to fight for life when it is irretrievable and the greater the agreement to limit treatment. Besides, those participants not affiliated with a religion were significantly less likely to fight for life, including when irretrievable, than Catholics and were more likely to agree to limit treatment. Conclusions: More than half of the participants would agree to limit treatment in the case of a poor prognosis. Our results indicate that patients do not prepare for the dying process well in advance. Religion and educational level were determining factors for the choice of procedures at the end of life, both for patients and their families.

Mental Capacity Act 2005

This chapter covers the Mental Health Act 2005 and includes topics on The Core Test for Mental Capacity, The Obligation to Assist a Person to Gain Capacity, The Best Interests Assessment when a Patient Lacks Capacity, Non-Discrimination in Best Interests Assessment, Derivation of Liberty: General Principles, Derivation of Liberty: Life-Saving Treatment, Protection for Those Wrongly Assessing Capacity Or Best Interests, Definition of a Lasting Power of Attorney, General provisions on advanced directives, Effect of an advance decision, The Effect of Advance Decisions, Things that the Mental Capacity Act cannot authorise, and Authorising of Deprivation of Liberty.

Ethical and Legal Issues

The sections of this chapter discuss both evaluation and management of legal and ethical aspects of the physician assistant (PA) profession, taking into consideration that the PA practice flows out of an interconnected relationship between the PA, the physician, and the patient. PAs are called to fulfill not only the law when practicing but also rise to uphold ethical principles. There are a variety of situations a provider can encounter throughout a career. Some topics are present in every patient encounter, such as confidentiality and informed consent. Some topics may only be present in certain cases, such as advanced directives and futile treatment. Nevertheless, the provider should be knowledgeable about each of these legal and ethical situations and understand the evaluation and management of them.

Video decision support tool promoting values conversations in advanced care planning in cancer: protocol of a randomised controlled trial

Background Views on advance care planning (ACP) has shifted from a focus solely on treatment decisions at the end-of-life and medically orientated advanced directives to encouraging conversations on personal values and life goals, patient-caregiver communication and decision making, and family preparation. This study will evaluate the potential utility of a video decision support tool (VDST) that models values-based ACP discussions between cancer patients and their nominated caregivers to enable patients and families to achieve shared-decisions when completing ACP’s. Methods This open-label, parallel-arm, phase II randomised control trial will recruit cancer patient-caregiver dyads across a large health network. Previously used written vignettes will be converted to video vignettes using the recommended methodology. Participants will be ≥18 years and be able to complete questionnaires. Dyads will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to a usual care (UC) or VDST group. The VDST group will watch a video of several patient-caregiver dyads communicating personal values across different cancer trajectory stages and will receive verbal and written ACP information. The UC group will receive verbal and written ACP information. Patient and caregiver data will be collected individually via an anonymous questionnaire developed for the study, pre and post the UC and VDST intervention. Our primary outcome will be ACP completion rates. Secondarily, we will compare patient-caregiver (i) attitudes towards ACP, (ii) congruence in communication, and (iii) preparation for decision-making. Conclusion We need to continue to explore innovative ways to engage cancer patients in ACP. This study will be the first VDST study to attempt to integrate values-based conversations into an ACP intervention. This pilot study’s findings will assist with further refinement of the VDST and planning for a future multisite study. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry No: ACTRN12620001035910. Registered 12 October 2020. Retrospectively registered.

A journey through roses and thorns: becoming a physician by learning from patients with life-threatening illnesses. A qualitative study with international medical students

The medical students’ well-being may be threatened by various stressors associated with providing care to different kinds of patients. This study aims to explore students’ clinical experiences with patients who suffer from life-threatening illnesses, focusing on potential risk and protective factors. Audio-recorded and face-to-face interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. The “Interpretive Description” approach was used to analyse data. Overall, ten medical students with a mean age of 28 years old were interviewed. Well-being promoting factors were the following: therapeutic relationships, work-life balance, social support and communication, perception of improvement in knowledge and availability of advanced directives. Whilst factors that may reduce well-being included death exposure, managing emotions, communication difficulties, internal conflicts and disagreements, lack of knowledge and subjective concerns. These findings shed light on facets that are inherent parts of clinical experience with patients suffering from a life-threatening illness and that may turn in risk or protective factors for the medical students. Understanding the students’ subjective experiences may aid in the improvement of the current educational programs, as well as in the development of tailored supportive and preventative interventions to promote well-being and professional competencies among this kind of students.