Advance Care Planning at London Health Sciences Centre

All patients admitted to London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) are asked to indicate their preferences for CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and other life-sustaining treatments that necessitate an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. Complex, high-risk patients at LHSC require multiple admissions to the hospital towards their end-of-life (EOL). Documentation of their resuscitation status should be a part of a broader dialogue with patients around their goals of care (GOC) and advance care planning (ACP), but rarely is this the case. The innovation will involve the use of trained nurse facilitators to have meaningful conversations with patients and their families in an effective way that bridges the gap between resuscitation status, GOC discussions and ACP across the continuum of care.