A topic that I feel very strong about are Advance Directives. As nurses we are supposed to be asking patients when they are admitted into the hospital if they have one. According to the Patient Self Determination Act it is against the law for hospitals to require their patients to have one. I don’t feel as though it should be a law, I just feel like everyone should be able to make their own choices when it comes to their end of life care.
Advance Directives are legal papers that allow you to make your own decisions about your end of life care to your family and friends. They allow your family the ability to not have to make such tough decisions when this time arises. Two types of advance directives are Living Wills, and a Durable Power of Attorney. Living Wills acknowledges several items that you may or may not want when your end of life is near. Things such as: breathing machines, feeding tubes, dialysis, resuscitation, etc. A Durable Power of Attorney is someone you designate and trust to make these types of decisions for you if in the event you are no longer of sound, mind, and body.
Advance Directives are so important. It is really easy to ask a patient the question about Advance Directives when they come into the hospital because it’s on our admission history that we perform. I know that sometimes asking patients these questions can be somewhat uncomfortable if the patient is young or you think that they might not have one because if someone is perfectly healthy then why would their nurse be asking them if they have a living will? It doesn’t matter we should be asking people if they have them, and if they don’t then we should be offering to help them make one if they want. As an Oncology nurse I see so many families being torn apart because one sibling wants to do one thing and another one wants to do another. When in reality if their loved one had an Advance Directive it might not matter what they wanted, but what the patient wanted.
The websites that I found are easy to read, current, accurate, and offer good information revolving around Advance Directives.
Medline Plus
Advance Directives
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/advancedirectives.html
This website gives a brief description of advance directives. However, it also has other links that you can directly go to for different related topics associated with Advance Directives. There is also a section that offers other languages for people who speak something other than English.
Family Doctor
Advance Directives
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/pat-advocacy/endoflife/003.printreview.html
This website gives good definitions of the terms associated with Advance Directives. It gives good information about how to obtain and change advance directives as well. It is operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
American Cancer Society
Advance Directives
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/FindingandPayingforTreatment/UnderstandingFinancialandLegalMatters/AdvanceDirectives/index
I love the American Cancer Society website. I have specifically used this website to give patients information about many different things when it comes to their diagnosis. It offers good information about advance directives. The a frequently asked questions section, and also offers the website in a few other languages also.
National Cancer Institute
Advance Directives
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/support/advance-directives
The National Cancer Institute is the Federal Government agency for cancer research and training. This has good information about patient’s rights regarding advance directives, why they are so important, and how to get help developing one. It does many important things such as supporting research projects in cancer control and also supporting a national network for cancer centers. Great Website!
Advance Directive, LLC
http://advancedirectivellc.com/
This website offers people a way to complete an advance directive, and also store it in a database 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If someone is admitted to the hospital and they tell you that they do have an advance directive, but just don’t have a copy, but are able to retrieve it from the internet then we should be allowed to give them a computer, let them get to it, and print a copy off. Because waiting for family to bring it in doesn’t always work.
Caring Connections
http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3289
Caring Connections is a program offered by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. This Website provides free resources and information to help people make decisions about their end of life care they wish to receive. You can also download your specific state’s Advance Directive
