Advance directives, including “living wills,” can help you honor individual end-of-life preferences and desires. You may feel uncomfortable raising the issue, fearing that patients will assume the end is near. But, in fact, this is a conversation that is best begun well before end-of-life care is appropriate. Let your patients know that advance care planning is a part of good health care.
You can say that, increasingly, people realize the importance of making plans while they are still healthy. You can let them know that these plans can be revised and updated over time or as their health changes.
An advance care planning discussion can take about 5 minutes with a healthy patient:
l Talk about the steps your patient would want you to take in the event of certain conditions or eventualities.
l Discuss the meaning of a health care proxy and how to select one.
l Give the patient the materials to review, complete, and return at the next visit. In some cases, the patient may want help completing the form.