Is the POLST Model Desirable for Florida?

Florida has one ofthe largest and most rapidly growing elderly populations in the nation. Although advances in medicine are allowing physicians to extend the lives of elderly patients, advances must simultaneously be made in the end-of-life care arena to ensure that the comfort and quality of life o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sarah Catherine Spillers (Author), Brittany Lamb (Author)
Format: Book
Published: University of North Florida, 2011-11-01T00:00:00Z.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to this object online.
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Florida has one ofthe largest and most rapidly growing elderly populations in the nation. Although advances in medicine are allowing physicians to extend the lives of elderly patients, advances must simultaneously be made in the end-of-life care arena to ensure that the comfort and quality of life of elderly patients is maintained. This paper argues that use of a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form in Florida would be effective in increasing the accuracy oftranslating patients' end-of-life wishes into treatment orders, in ensuring the consistency of treatment across settings, and in improving health care provider compliance with patient preferences. It will be demonstrated that present concerns in Florida are essentially the same as those which previously existed in other states that have successfully implemented POLST programs.
Item Description:2643-6248