title: Communication and advanced care planning in palliative and end-of-life care.
abstract: Communication about and planning for the end of life has evolved with medical and technological changes. This article presents a focused literature review of Advance Directives (ADs), Advanced Care Planning (ACP), and communication in palliative and end-of-life care. Two focused Medline searches were conducted to locate articles that addressed ACP in the U.S. Content analysis was utilized to summarize and categorize the literature into five domains: (1) ADs, (2) ACP and communication, (3) Barriers to ACP, (4) Differential domains of ACP, and (5) Interventions to enhance the process. Policies and protocols for ACP and communication have been developed to facilitate the process in different patient populations and locations of care. Effective ACP is an essential component of person-centered end-of-life and palliative care.
authors.affiliation: University at Buffalo School of Social Work, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. dwaldrop@buffalo.edu
authors.forename: Deborah P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Waldrop
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Meeker
mesh_terms: D032722:Advance Care Planning; D016223:Advance Directives; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D013727:Terminal Care; D014481:United States