Completion of the Advanced Directive: When a healthcare agent or surrogate is named and a living will is completed designating what the patient’s wishes might be, the Advanced Directive is signed by the patient. In order for the Advanced Directive to become a legal document, it must either be witnessed by two people or notarized by an authorized public notary. Note that both the witness signature and the notarization only testify that the signature belongs to the patient, and not to the validity or completeness of the Advanced Directive. As noted above, the patient can elect to activate the Advanced Directive immediately upon signature and witness/notarization or can elect to activate after signature and witness/ notarization only when the patient is incapacitated.
When to Consider a Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST): The Advanced Directive is appropriate when a serious illness or chronic disease is first diagnosed at minimum, and updated on a regular basis as the patient ages and their health status changes. A good case could be made for starting to do Advance Care Planning, having advance directive conversations, when the patient is young. One could consider for instance, a high school graduate to receive a diploma and an advance care planning document. What is key is the recognition that advance care planning is about repeated conversation over time with an individual about their wishes. The Advanced Directive is the document that captures these conversations.
When a patient becomes more seriously ill and is approaching the last phases of a terminal trajectory, you could discuss physician orders for life sustaining treatment and complete a POLST form (capolst.org). This state approved form has four sections:
Section A: cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR or Do Not Attempt Resuscitation = allow natural death)
Section B: medical interventions (full, selective, comfort-focused)
Section C: artificial nutrition (long term, trial, no artificial means including feeding tubes)
Section D: Information and signatures.
This form can be signed by either a physician or a nurse practitioner/ physician’s assistant. Make copies for the patient’s medical record, provide copy to the patient and the patient caregiver/surrogate. This form should be with the patient at all times.
To learn more about POLST, the link below sponsored by the California Coaltion for Compassionate Care provides great resources.
Partnership HealthPlan Commitment: Our commitment to the seriously ill members in our plan is strong and manifest through the Partnership HealthPlan’s Offering and Honoring Choices Initiative. This is a set of 14 activities that promote, support and facilitate a spectrum of palliative care activities, including completion of advance care directives and POLST completion. Of note, PHC has included advance care planning in the Quality Incentive Program (QIP) which includes $100 per member for attestation of an advance care plan conversation and an additional $100 for submission of a completed POLST.
Other Resources
http://coalitionccc.org/tools-resources/advance-care-planning-resources/