Advance Care Planning: is quality end of life care really that simple?. Issue 4 (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnson, Stephanie; Kerridge, Ian; Butow, Phyllis N.; Tattersall, Martin H. N.
• Is Part Of: Internal medicine journal. Volume 47:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 390
• Page End: 394
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: advance care planning -- terminal care -- end of life -- advance directives -- bioethics; Medicine -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1111/imj.13389
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1444-0903

Abstract

Abstract : The routine implementation of Advance Care Planning (ACP) is now a prominent feature of policy directed at improving end of life care in Australia. However, while complex ACP interventions may modestly reduce medical care at the end of life and enable more people to die at home or outside of acute hospital settings, existing legal, organisational, cultural and conceptual barriers limit the implementation and utility of ACP. We suggest that meaningful improvements in end of life care will not result from the institutionalisation of ACP but from more significant changes to the design and delivery of care.