Background: Advance directives have been studied in different patient populations and
institutions. Most reports have shown limited use and little medically observable effect. To …

BACKGROUND: Advance directives are a means of promoting patient autonomy in end-of-
life decisions but are used infrequently. A recent federal law requires healthcare …

This study of an elderly population examined the prevalence of advance directives, the
barriers to documentation, and the relation of anxiety to advance directives. Elders (mean …

A review of medical charts of all deaths for one year at a general acute care hospital reveals
that 135/602 (22%) charts indicate that the patient had an advance directive. In 68/135 …

The patient records of 160 older adults who died in a community hospital were reviewed to
determine the use of advance directives and evaluate their effect on the care decisions …

Advance directives are legal documents outlining a patient's preferences for treatment at the
end of life. The intent is that the documents will be used if the patient later cannot …

Background: Although advance medical directives, such as living wills and durable powers
of attorney for health care, are by themselves imperfect instruments for expressing patients' …

Over the past two decades, our society has reached a consensus that medical decision
making should be shaped by patients' preferences. 1 A formal, written advance directive is …

OBJECTIVE: We studied whether a simple educational intervention would increase patient
completion of advance directives and discussions on end‐of‐life issues. DESIGN …

Background The use of advance directives is recommended so that people can determine
the medical care they will receive when they are no longer competent, but the effectiveness …