Advance Care Planning Preferences and Readiness in Cirrhosis: A Prospective Assessment of Patient Perceptions and Knowledge

Abstract

Background:

In 2014, the province of Alberta launched a campaign to promote public awareness of advance care planning (ACP) and its associated two-part documentation—a Goals of care designation (GCD, a medical order written by a health care practitioner detailing wishes for care) and a personal directive (PD, a document naming a surrogate decision maker). Notably, unlike the GCD, the PD can be self-initiated independent of a health practitioner.

Objective:

Two years after the campaign, we aimed to assess knowledge and recall of participation in ACP among cirrhosis patients.

Design/Setting:

Consecutive adult cirrhosis patients attending one of two specialty cirrhosis clinics in Edmonton, Alberta, were surveyed.

Results:

Ninety-seven patients were included. Mean model for end-stage liver disease was 12. Although 97% of patients indicated it was extremely important to know the reality of their illness, only 53% understood that cirrhosis would affect their future quality of life. Thirty-three percent of patients had completed a PD and 14% had completed a GCD. Seventy-eight percent of patients believed a GCD was important to them and 85% preferred to complete it in an outpatient clinic setting. Only a minority of patients who had taken the initiative to complete a PD in the community also had a GCD.

Conclusions:

Despite efforts to raise awareness of and educate Albertans about ACP, <20% of cirrhosis patients have a completed GCD. Additional strategic prioritization is required in both patients and providers to ensure that health practitioner-facilitated ACP is carried out as standard-of-care in all patients with cirrhosis.