Advance Care Planning Complexities for Nurse Practitioners

摘要

Patients and families are often asked to make critical decisions about end-of-life (EOL) care without any warning or knowledge of the patient's wishes. EOL decisions may cause significant anxiety for all involved. A study was conducted to assess the prevalence of advance care planning (ACP) discussions and to identify barriers and facilitators to these discussions by nurse practitioners: Educational, time, and systems factors were found to impact these discussions. Developing educational programs and influencing policies surrounding ACP may increase the number of discussions and promote advocacy for the patient and improve health care.