Advanced Directives and Advanced Care Planning for Healthcare Professionals

The purposes of this study were to assess healthcare professionals' need for information on advanced directives and to implement and evaluate an educational plan for change in knowledge and behaviors related to advanced directives. End-of-life (EOL) care is an important topic for patients to discuss with their families and healthcare professionals (HP). Needs assessment data were collected from healthcare providers at an urban trauma intensive care unit (ICU) in Louisville, Kentucky on concepts related to end-of-life. Next, healthcare professionals participated in an educational intervention focused on: knowledge about advanced directives; communication techniques for healthcare professionals to use with patients and their families; awareness of the patient's level of illness in advanced care planning; and specifics about living wills in Kentucky and how to complete one. Pre- and post-test data were collected to evaluate change in knowledge, capability an average of 8.7 years (SD = 9.1; range = 1.9-35 years) in healthcare and worked an average of 8.4 years (SD = 9.3; range = 4 months to 35 years) in their respective ICUs. Eighty-seven percent did not have an AD in place even though their perceived knowledge about AD remained moderate throughout pre- and post-test scores (3.3 to 3.8 on a 5 point scale, respectively). Total post-test scores revealed a 2% improvement in correct responses. These findings point to the need for education of healthcare providers in the ICU to increase early AD and ACP discussions with patients and their families.