Will outpatients complete living wills? A comparison of two interventions.
OBJECTIVE
To test the efficacy of two intervention methods that aimed to increase the percentage of adult clinic patients who completed living wills and placed them on file with their physicians within a four-month period.


METHODS
There were one control and two intervention groups. Surveys were separated by age and gender categories and randomly selected for the final sample.


METHODS
The internal medicine outpatient clinic of a large tertiary hospital.


METHODS
All patients who visited the clinic were asked whether they would be willing to fill out a survey. The final sample included 167 adult patients who comprised three study groups.


METHODS
The first intervention relied solely on a booklet that described the Minnesota Living Will Act, general information concerning advance directives, and medical interventions that could be considered extraordinary if used for a patient in a terminal condition. The second intervention relied on both the booklet and repeated physician-initiated discussions with the patient about the probable value of a living will.


RESULTS
The booklet/physician intervention was found to be significantly more effective than either the booklet-only intervention or no intervention (p less than 0.05 and 0.01, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The physician intervention used in this population could be undertaken in any primary care clinic. Time spent in discussion before a crisis may be significantly shorter and qualitatively better than time spent in discussion with families who must make decisions during a crisis.
Hare
J
J
Department of Human Development, Family Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331-5106.
Nelson
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D016224:Living Wills; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations