Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA) Endorses National POLST Form

This month, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA) became the first national organization to formally endorse and support the adoption of a national POLST form.

The national form was created because a single form—as opposed to just state-to-state form reciprocity—will make it easier, among other things:

• For providers to recognize a POLST form and  correctly interpret and follow POLST form orders, thereby enabling them to honor patient treatment preferences
• To conduct research and quality assurance activities, creating shared data for generalizable knowledge and ability to improve POLST
• To more broadly educate patients and providers about POLST so the process and form are understood and appropriately implemented consistently everywhere

While not solely for emergencies, the POLST form is valuable in communicating to EMS providers whether the patient wants CPR or not and whether they want to be transported to the hospital or remain in place and made comfortable. Therefore, the POLST form itself must be immediately recognizable to all EMS providers and healthcare professionals.

“POLST exists to provide seriously ill or frail patients a tool to communicate their treatment preferences as they transition across care settings or travel throughout the United States.” (Amy Vandenbroucke, JD, executive director of National POLST).

POLST is an approach to advance care planning for patients who are considered to be at risk for a life-threatening clinical event because they have a serious life-limiting medical condition, which may include advanced frailty. The POLST process emphasizes eliciting, documenting, and honoring patient preferences about the treatments they want to receive during a medical emergency or as they decline in health. These treatment wishes are documented on a portable medical order called a POLST form.