PROVIDERS

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The Georgia POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment) is a portable medical order that details a patient's care wishes as he or she approaches the end of life. Health care professionals play an intrinsic role in developing these care plans with patients and in ensuring that they are honored as patients transfer to different care settings. The POLST form can help health care professionals by:

• Facilitating discussions between providers and patients regarding care preferences
• Informing health care teams in different care settings of patients' end-of-life wishes

The role of health care professionals in POLST implementation includes:

• Identifying patients who are appropriate for a POLST
• Complete a “goals of care” discussion
• Discuss a patient’s care preferences that should be documented in a Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care such as in a CRITICAL ConditionsSM Planning Guide found in our e-store
• Work with the patient, when appropriate, to complete the POLST document
• The form must be signed by a physician
• All health care providers should honor and advocate for a patient’s known wishes

​For additional information on how to understand and implement the POLST for your care setting:​​

• Contact the Georgia POLST Collaborative's Speakers Bureau and request a presentation on the GA POLST
• Dr. Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End​