Brightspots: What Works In Health Care

POLST, which stands for Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, is a type of advance directive that patients who may have less than a year to live can use to inform providers about their treatment wishes. Dr. Rob Hunold had read numerous studies on the impact of POLST, and discovered that it had a major positive impact on patient outcomes and cost. So, he set out on a campaign to increase the number of patients in his practice who had completed POLST forms. He pulled it off, but only with perseverance and personal sacrifice.