title: The consistency between treatments provided to nursing facility residents and orders on the physician orders for life-sustaining treatment form.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the consistency between treatments provided and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) orders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective chart abstraction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stratified, random sample of 90 nursing facilities in Oregon, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight hundred seventy living and deceased nursing facility residents aged 65 and older with a minimum 60-day stay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chart data about POLST form orders and related treatments over a 60-day period were abstracted. Decision rules were created to determine whether the rationale for each treatment was consistent with POLST orders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most residents (85.2%) had the same POLST form in place during the review period. A majority of treatments provided to residents with orders for comfort measures only (74.3%) and limited antibiotics (83.3%) were consistent with POLST orders because they were primarily comfort focused rather than life-prolonging, but antibiotics were provided to 32.1% of residents with orders for no antibiotics. Overall consistency rates between treatments and POLST orders were high for resuscitation (98%), medical interventions (91.1%), and antibiotics (92.9%) and modest for feeding tubes (63.6%). In all, POLST orders were consistent with treatments provided 94.0% of the time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the exception of feeding tubes and antibiotic use in residents with orders for no antibiotics, the use of medical treatments was nearly always consistent with POLST orders to provide or withhold life-sustaining interventions. The POLST program is a useful tool for ensuring that the treatment preferences of nursing facility residents are honored.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA. hickman@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hickman
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Alvin H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.forename: Susan W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Tolle
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.forename: Bernard J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hammes
mesh_terms: D032722:Advance Care Planning; D024362:Advance Directive Adherence / Q000592:standards*; D016223:Advance Directives; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D028761:Withholding Treatment
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