Welcome to what may be for all too many an eye-opening series about healthcare stakeholder advance care planning (ACP) misconceptions.
Our aim? To address head-on the issues and opinions raised around the efficacy of ACP in articles such as the highly debated October 2021 piece on What’s Wrong with Advance Care Planning?
In this series, we’ll evaluate alleged advance care planning failures, scrutinize suggested improvements, and provide actionable steps you can take to measurably impact ACP’s effectiveness in your organization. Each post will light a path to a more patient-centric ACP approach.
First, we tackle the most daunting barrier – normalizing advance care planning conversations to help patients, residents, and members address their mortality.
We all know discussions of one’s mortality are incredibly emotional and challenging when grappling with severe illnesses, debilitating pain, or impairment. Adding an “end-of-life” discussion adds to the complexity. In these situations, healthcare professionals are tasked to help manage hopes and fears while considering factors such as comfort, financial control, sustenance, social connections, familial and social roles, and spiritual commitments.
While these discussions may be complicated and intensely personal, they can also be immensely beneficial in identifying the often unspoken and unique goals of those in our care. Unfortunately, our current approach to measuring quality healthcare often undervalues an individual’s voice, leading to a disconnect in patient-centered care delivery. This University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study reveals a startling statistic that drives this point home.
“70% of participants aged 60 and older at death, who faced treatment decisions in their final days, were incapable of participating in these decisions.”
According to the 2016 study, 70% of participants aged 60 and older at death, who faced treatment decisions in their final days, were incapable of participating in these decisions. This statistic alone underlines the urgent necessity to reform our approach to ACP by making these conversations a regular part of patient, resident, and member interactions.
The ACP landscape is riddled with misconceptions and a general lack of awareness that impacts the true value for ALL stakeholders as described below.