Advance Care Planning is often something that nurses become involved with. This could be with their patients and families or for themselves and their own family. Advance care planning has been described as a process of discussion about goals of care and recording of preferences for care of people who may lose capacity or communication ability in the future.
Each State and Territory has different medico- legal legislation regarding Advance Care Planning, and nurses will need to know what applies in their area of practice. The Respecting Patient Choices website, which supports Advance Care Planning, has a
Frequently Asked Questions page for each State and Territory, providing relevant local information.
The Public Health approach to palliative care also advocates open discussions around advance care planning in the community.
Individual organisations (hospitals, area health authorities, community health services) may also have policies or procedures in place that relate to Advance Care Planning.
Resources
- Further information can be found on the national initiative Respecting Patient Choices with a link to the program in the National Palliative Care Program pages.
- The Australian General Practice Network Rural Palliative Care Resource kit has Palliative Care Education Programs, including an Advance Care Directive education program
- The Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing website has information on Advance Directives/Statements/Care Planning as part of their document ‘Identifying the carer project: Final report and recommendations for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing’ (Section 3.4)
- The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has information on Advance Care Plans
- The Australian Medical Association has a position statement on: The role of the Medical Practitioner in Advance Care Planning (2006)
- Palliative Care Australia has information within the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care: Advance Care Planning
- Palliative Care Australia has conference presentations from the ‘Together 2009’ national conference, including ethics and law
- The Australian Resource Centre for Healthcare Innovations has an Advance Care Planning (ACP) Model of Care
- The government of Ontario has produced the Guide to Advance Care Planning as part of Ontario's Strategy for Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias (Canada)
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- End of Life care For All (e-ELCA) is an e-learning resource from the NHS (UK) designed to enhance the training and education of all those involved in delivering end-of-life care. They have a session on Advance Care Planning
Related CareSearch Pages
Nurses Hub
For Patients and Families
CNIN Information Sheet
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This page was created on 27 August 2010
Last updated 15 September 2011*