Palliative Care – Advance Care Planning

Transcript

When you’re in good health is the best time to think about your future care. Why is that? When you’re healthy, you have clarity of mind. You’re not under any kind of pressure. You have time to think and have the important conversations with your family. Advanced care planning is an important step towards making sure that you get the medical care you would want, should you be unable to speak for yourself, and doctors and family members are in a position to make decisions for you.

Key takeaways, advanced care planning is not only about old age or a serious illness situation. At any age, a medical crisis can leave you too ill to be able to make your own healthcare decisions. The sooner you put your wishes in writing and identify those you trust to make important decisions for you, the easier it will be for everyone to navigate those important decisions when the time comes. Research done by the National Institute for Aging showed that advanced directives do make a difference. And that people who document their preferences to an advanced directives are more likely to get the care they prefer at the end of life than people who don’t.