ACP Conversations - A system-wide implementation plan
Friday, October 13, 2023
5:00 PM – 6:15 PM ET
Location: Kent A-C (Fourth Floor)
Advance Care Planning (ACP) conversations is seen as a cornerstone of modern healthcare and needs to be supported. However, research indicates that the update thereof is limited, regardless of various campaigns and legislation. Advance care planning has been heralded, as a mechanism, to support patient rights, autonomy, and dignity in a patient’s healthcare trajectory. By satisfying the ethical principles, through ACP conversations, healthcare professionals do not only attempt to minimize potential future harms, they also put the patient at the center of care-planning. Various gaps in ACP adaptation within systems have been identified. The author is the operational lead of implementing changes to the ACP process at their institution with various hospitals and over 2,200 MDs and APPs. They will share the barriers and how it was addressed. ACP conversations cannot static and needs to be dynamic as patients’ illness trajectories and goals change. The care team needs to guard themselves against having ACP conversations to satisfy a metric and should instead be guided by the patient’s expressed values and wishes. Having a system-wide operational plan helps alleviate barriers in having appropriate ACP conversations. Strategies and successes on how to implement a system-wide ACP program will be shared. After 2 years the author’s institution has increased ACP conversations, have documented an increase from 12% to 76%, have effectively lowered the deaths in the ICU; lowered length of stay; and have relieved the financial burden of patients and their families. Focusing on adequate ACP conversations is a moral imperative for institutions.