PURPOSE: Many patients with advanced cancer receive aggressive treatment near the end of life. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form is an innovation that converts patient preferences into medical orders. We compared the end-of-life care of patients with advanced cancer who had completed POLST forms with that of patients who had advance directives (ADs). METHODS: We studied 2,159 West Virginians with ADs and/or POLST forms in the West Virginia e-Directive Registry who died as a result of cancer between January 2011 and February 2016. Data from the Vital Registration Office (date, site, and cause of death) were merged with those from the registry (form type, completion date, and hospice admission). The primary outcome variables were out-of-hospital death (OHD) and hospice admission. RESULTS: The percentage of patients with OHD was 85.7% for patients with POLST forms compared with 72.0% for those with ADs ( P < .001). The odds of OHD for patients with POLST forms were 2.33 times those of patients with ADs. The percentage of patients admitted to hospice was 49.9% for those with POLST forms compared with 27.0% for those with ADs ( P < .001). The odds of being admitted to hospice for patients with POLST forms were 2.69 times those of patients with ADs. CONCLUSION: Advance care planning with completion of POLST forms compared with ADs in patients with advanced cancer was associated with two quality end-of-life care metrics: OHD and hospice admission. Our study suggests that goals-of-care discussions including POLST form completion may improve end-of-life care for patients with advanced cancer.
PURPOSE: Many patients with advanced cancer receive aggressive treatment near the end of life. The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form is an innovation that converts patient preferences into medical orders. We compared the end-of-life care of patients with advanced cancer who had completed POLST forms with that of patients who had advance directives (ADs). METHODS: We studied 2,159 West Virginians with ADs and/or POLST forms in the West Virginia e-Directive Registry who died as a result of cancer between January 2011 and February 2016. Data from the Vital Registration Office (date, site, and cause of death) were merged with those from the registry (form type, completion date, and hospice admission). The primary outcome variables were out-of-hospital death (OHD) and hospice admission. RESULTS: The percentage of patients with OHD was 85.7% for patients with POLST forms compared with 72.0% for those with ADs ( P < .001). The odds of OHD for patients with POLST forms were 2.33 times those of patients with ADs. The percentage of patients admitted to hospice was 49.9% for those with POLST forms compared with 27.0% for those with ADs ( P < .001). The odds of being admitted to hospice for patients with POLST forms were 2.69 times those of patients with ADs. CONCLUSION: Advance care planning with completion of POLST forms compared with ADs in patients with advanced cancer was associated with two quality end-of-life care metrics: OHD and hospice admission. Our study suggests that goals-of-care discussions including POLST form completion may improve end-of-life care for patients with advanced cancer.
Authors: Cari Levy; Mary Ersek; Winifred Scott; Joan G Carpenter; Jennifer Kononowech; Ciaran Phibbs; Jill Lowry; Jennifer Cohen; Marybeth Foglia Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2020-02-24 Impact factor: 5.128
Authors: Eric Li; Christopher Manz; Manqing Liu; Jinbo Chen; Corey Chivers; Jennifer Braun; Lynn Mara Schuchter; Pallavi Kumar; Mitesh S Patel; Lawrence N Shulman; Ravi B Parikh Journal: PLoS One Date: 2022-05-27 Impact factor: 3.752
Authors: Spyros D Mentzelopoulos; Keith Couper; Patrick Van de Voorde; Patrick Druwé; Marieke Blom; Gavin D Perkins; Ileana Lulic; Jana Djakow; Violetta Raffay; Gisela Lilja; Leo Bossaert Journal: Notf Rett Med Date: 2021-06-02 Impact factor: 0.826
Authors: Marissa LoCastro; Andrea M Baran; Jane L Liesveld; Eric Huselton; Michael W Becker; Kristen Marie O'Dwyer; Omar S Aljitawi; Megan Baumgart; Eric Snyder; Benzi Kluger; Kah Poh Loh; Jason H Mendler Journal: Blood Adv Date: 2021-12-28