National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) will be observed on Thursday, April 16. This annual initiative serves as a reminder to "decide, discuss, and document" your future healthcare preferences. The date was strategically chosen to follow "Tax Day" (April 15), inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: "Nothing is certain except death and taxes". The goal is to make reviewing your healthcare wishes as routine as filing your annual taxes.
Every day, thousands of people are suddenly ill or injured to the point that they cannot communicate how far they want care to go. There are all sorts of invasive, intense interventions to keep someone alive…but that doesn’t mean that everyone would WANT those types of interventions. That’s where advance care planning comes in.
Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a process of conversation and documentation that ensures your healthcare preferences are honored if you ever lose the ability to speak for yourself. It offers significant psychological, medical, and financial benefits for patients, their families, and healthcare providers.
Benefits for Patients
- Ensures Personalized Care: ACP significantly increases the likelihood that you receive medical care consistent with your personal values and treatment goals.
- Increases Autonomy and Control: The process provides a sense of control over an uncertain future and empowers patients to participate directly in their care decisions.
- Improves Quality of Life: By identifying preferences early, patients can avoid unwanted, aggressive medical treatments and instead prioritize comfort, often leading to increased utilization of palliative and hospice services.
- Clarifies Choice of Location: ACP increases the probability that you can spend your final days in your preferred setting, such as your home, rather than in a hospital or intensive care unit (ICU).
Benefits for Families and Caregivers
- Reduces Decisional Burden: When your wishes are documented, loved ones are relieved of the emotional burden of "guessing" what you would want during a crisis.
- Minimizes Psychological Distress: Families who engage in ACP often experience lower rates of stress, anxiety and depression both during the illness and throughout the bereavement process.
- Prevents Conflict: Clear directives help eliminate family disagreements and potential legal confusion about medical treatment options.
Benefits for the Healthcare System
- Improves Communication: ACP improves the quality of patient-physician communication and strengthens trust between the care team and the patient.
- Reduces Unnecessary Costs: By avoiding unwanted hospitalization and ICU admissions, ACP can significantly reduce the cost of end-of-life care.
- Supports Provider Wellbeing: Having clear guidance can reduce "moral distress" among doctors and nurses who might otherwise struggle with difficult ethical decisions.
Hospice of Northwest Ohio offers free, guided conversations by trained facilitators in the completion of advance healthcare directives. Contact us today to set up an appointment at 419-931-5522 or acp@sinceracare.org.