UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Geriatrics

Title: Do POLSTs Really Change What We Do? (Submitted by Dr Liz Clayborne)

Keywords: palliative, advance directive, end-of-life (PubMed Search)

Posted: 4/1/2018 by Danya Khoujah, MBBS (Updated: 3/28/2024)
Click here to contact Danya Khoujah, MBBS

25% of U.S. health care spending goes to the 6% of people who die every year. ICUs account for 20% of all health care costs. A new study has shown that patients with POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatments) forms are less likely to receive unwanted life sustaining treatments when compared to patients with traditional Do-Not-Resuscitate orders (http://www.ohsu.edu/polst/). Using the POLST did not impact the degree of comfort care received for symptom management and helped individuals make more informed choices about the type and level of end-of-life care they wish to receive.

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