Advance Care Planning Evaluation in Hospitalized Elderly Patients

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate Advance Care Planning (ACP) to determine from the patient and families’ perspectives, the prevalence of ACP, satisfaction with end of life (EOL) communication and decision-making, and to enable local or regional teams to develop and implement specific action plans aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of ACP efforts specifically, and the overall quality of EOL care in general.

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate Advance Care Planning (ACP) to determine from the patient and families’ perspectives, the prevalence of ACP, satisfaction with end of life (EOL) communication and decision-making, and to enable local or regional teams to develop and implement specific action plans aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of ACP efforts specifically, and the overall quality of EOL care in general.  Through a prospective audit of current practice, the study will:

1. Determine the extent to which patients and families in 10 hospitals in BC and Alberta have engaged in ACP;
2. Define what barriers and facilitators they perceive, and how satisfied they are with communication and decision making at the EOL; and
3. Utilize Knowledge to Action Model to inform local or regional teams to develop specific action plans tailored to their local situation that can be implemented prior to the next audit, with the overall goal of increasing the quality and quantity of ACP and improving satisfaction of EOL care for the three years of the grant.

This study is the first large scale evaluation of ACP in the Canadian context. The insights gained from evaluating and improving ACP in British Columbia and Alberta will be disseminated throughout Canada via the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA).