Don't Count POLST Forms

This four-minute video describes interventions associated with the rise and fall in the rate of orders for “yes” to CPR and provides a summary of the major lessons learned, as: 1) Education is no match for incentives; 2) Do NOT count POLST forms as an ACP quality measure; 3) Do NOT routinely complete POLST forms on patients being admitted for short term rehab, and 4) Do NOT include POLST as a drop-down in the template for an Annual Medicare Wellness exam.
It is essential that studies that find discordance be used to guide POLST form revisions and implementation of policy and systems change to assure voluntary and accurate form completion with immediate retrieval of orders in the critical moments of care.
In a newly published editorial in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Aligning POLST Orders with Wishes: Time to Put Evidence into Practice, Dr. Susan Tolle demonstrates how Oregon utilizes quality data to guide the implementation of interventions. Susan outlines the vital role of the Oregon POLST Registry in tracking quality improvement, following targeted changes made in policies and health system practices. Continuous quality improvement is needed to achieve our founding goal of assuring that the wishes of those with advanced illness are carefully elicited, accurately recorded, available in a time of crisis, and thereby honored more consistently.
This JAGS publication can be found at:
agsjournals.on...