• Innovation in Action

Jun 17, 2020

POST Form Allows Patients to Put Their Treatment Preferences into Action

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In South Carolina, a relatively new directive called Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) gives patients choices on treatments, provides direction for providers and is transferable across the care continuum. Patients facing serious illness or nearing the end of life may be unable to make decisions about their care or communicate their treatment preferences to health care providers. Without the ability to share their wishes, these patients may end up receiving care they do not want.

The POST form goes beyond the Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) directive and is designed to be a component of advance care planning (ACP). It contains a set of medical orders signed by a patient’s physician and addresses key medical decisions consistent with a patient’s care goals concerning end of life treatment. POST does not replace living wills or ACP documents but rather supplements the decisions and care goals patients have in place.

Similar to a DNR, the POST form advises medical personnel whether or not they should perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a medical emergency. But POST goes a step further, providing direction about life-sustaining interventions, circumstances when the patient wishes to be moved to a hospital and whether the patient wants a feeding tube and for how long.

Similar forms are available in other states but may have different names. For example, in Kansas and Missouri, the form is called the Transportable Physician Orders for Patient Preferences (TPOPP) and POST is also used in Virginia.

The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME), HQIN’s local improvement partner in South Carolina, is offering two POST virtual training opportunities for health care providers on June 24 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 to 9:00 a.m. CT) and from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT). The speaker is Marisette Hasan, BSN, RN, President and CEO at The Carolinas Center, CCME’s partner promoting POST in South Carolina. This event has been approved for CME, Administrator, and Nursing CEUs (2.0 Live Contact hours).

“CCME is excited that South Carolina lawmakers have passed the POST act and look forward to collaborating with The Carolina Center to support ongoing education and adoption of advanced care planning,” said Karen Southard, RN, MHA, CPHQ, HQIN’s Program Director for South Carolina.

Who should attend this training?

Nursing home administrators, directors of nursing, social workers, medical directors, physicians, hospitalists, pharmacists, hospice and home health providers and case managers.

Session Objectives:

  1. Understand the required elements needed to execute advance directives in the state of South Carolina.
  2. Identify the differences between an advance directive and the SC POST form.
  3. Remember the elements needed to execute a POST form.
  4. Apply the benefits of collaborating with a hospice and/or palliative care provider in the care delivery for seriously ill patients living in a skilled nursing facility.

Register for the 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 to 9:00 a.m. CT) training: https://bit.ly/8AMtraining

Register for the 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT) training: https://bit.ly/12PMtraining

For additional information, view these ACP and POST resources: