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Background: In order to reduce the mismatch between patients’ desired and actual end-of-life care, the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) was created. POLST is a portable document delineating medical orders for emergency care treatment at the end of life including whether to attempt resuscitation and general level of medical interventions. For nursing home residents, an association between POLST creation and reduction of unwanted CPR has been substantiated. Outside of this population, the association is unknown.
Study design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Two academic hospitals in Washington.
Synopsis: Patients older than age 18 years who had one of nine chronic health conditions associated with 90% of deaths among Medicare beneficiaries were identified using Washington state death certificates. Additional inclusion criteria included hospital admission in the last 6 months of life and creation of a POLST prior to this admission. This led to identification of 1,818 patients. Patients with full-treatment POLST orders were significantly more likely to be admitted to the ICU as well as receive life-sustaining treatments such as mechanical ventilation, vasoactive infusions, or CPR, compared with patients with limited interventions or comfort-only POLST orders (P < .001 for both). 38% of patients with treatment-limiting POLSTs received aggressive end-of-life care that was discordant with their previously documented wishes.
Bottom line: Completion of POLST was associated with a greater likelihood of receiving end-of-life care that was in line with patients’ previously documented wishes regarding admission to ICU and life-sustaining treatment. Washington was one of the first states to adopt POLST in 2005 and therefore these results may not be broadly applicable.
Citation: Lee RY et al. Association of physician orders for life-sustaining treatment with ICU admission among patients hospitalized hear the end of life. JAMA. 2020 Feb 16;323(10):950-60.
Dr. Dreicer is assistant professor of medicine, section of hospital medicine, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
Background: In order to reduce the mismatch between patients’ desired and actual end-of-life care, the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) was created. POLST is a portable document delineating medical orders for emergency care treatment at the end of life including whether to attempt resuscitation and general level of medical interventions. For nursing home residents, an association between POLST creation and reduction of unwanted CPR has been substantiated. Outside of this population, the association is unknown.
Study design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Two academic hospitals in Washington.
Synopsis: Patients older than age 18 years who had one of nine chronic health conditions associated with 90% of deaths among Medicare beneficiaries were identified using Washington state death certificates. Additional inclusion criteria included hospital admission in the last 6 months of life and creation of a POLST prior to this admission. This led to identification of 1,818 patients. Patients with full-treatment POLST orders were significantly more likely to be admitted to the ICU as well as receive life-sustaining treatments such as mechanical ventilation, vasoactive infusions, or CPR, compared with patients with limited interventions or comfort-only POLST orders (P < .001 for both). 38% of patients with treatment-limiting POLSTs received aggressive end-of-life care that was discordant with their previously documented wishes.
Bottom line: Completion of POLST was associated with a greater likelihood of receiving end-of-life care that was in line with patients’ previously documented wishes regarding admission to ICU and life-sustaining treatment. Washington was one of the first states to adopt POLST in 2005 and therefore these results may not be broadly applicable.
Citation: Lee RY et al. Association of physician orders for life-sustaining treatment with ICU admission among patients hospitalized hear the end of life. JAMA. 2020 Feb 16;323(10):950-60.
Dr. Dreicer is assistant professor of medicine, section of hospital medicine, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
Background: In order to reduce the mismatch between patients’ desired and actual end-of-life care, the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) was created. POLST is a portable document delineating medical orders for emergency care treatment at the end of life including whether to attempt resuscitation and general level of medical interventions. For nursing home residents, an association between POLST creation and reduction of unwanted CPR has been substantiated. Outside of this population, the association is unknown.
Study design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Two academic hospitals in Washington.
Synopsis: Patients older than age 18 years who had one of nine chronic health conditions associated with 90% of deaths among Medicare beneficiaries were identified using Washington state death certificates. Additional inclusion criteria included hospital admission in the last 6 months of life and creation of a POLST prior to this admission. This led to identification of 1,818 patients. Patients with full-treatment POLST orders were significantly more likely to be admitted to the ICU as well as receive life-sustaining treatments such as mechanical ventilation, vasoactive infusions, or CPR, compared with patients with limited interventions or comfort-only POLST orders (P < .001 for both). 38% of patients with treatment-limiting POLSTs received aggressive end-of-life care that was discordant with their previously documented wishes.
Bottom line: Completion of POLST was associated with a greater likelihood of receiving end-of-life care that was in line with patients’ previously documented wishes regarding admission to ICU and life-sustaining treatment. Washington was one of the first states to adopt POLST in 2005 and therefore these results may not be broadly applicable.
Citation: Lee RY et al. Association of physician orders for life-sustaining treatment with ICU admission among patients hospitalized hear the end of life. JAMA. 2020 Feb 16;323(10):950-60.
Dr. Dreicer is assistant professor of medicine, section of hospital medicine, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
