Preferences of patients in advance care directives provide key steps for concordance of end-of-life care.

Abstract

Although advance care planning (ACP) has been widely promoted to enhance future provision of end-of-life care, there continues to be a need to better understand the ways in which individuals engage with ACP processes and their perceptions of resultant documentation (e.g. completed advance care directives (ACDs)). The aim of the study was to shed light on the views of patients participating in an RN-led ACP service. Data were collected from 85 completed ACDs and 43 surveys completed by patients and their carers. Diversity was demonstrated across the choice of substitute decision makers, preferred place of care, impact of future limitations, storage and communication of completed documentation. The findings provide clinicians, researchers and policy makers with insights into what matters to people in life and at the very end of life, and how to orientate services towards the preferences for care documented in ACDs. REGISTRATION: The study was retrospectively registered on 8/10/2018 with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Trial ID: ACTRN12618001627246).