Susan Tolle, MD, Chair of the Oregon POLST Coalition & Director of the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care
with a post-presentation Q&A
facilitated by Betty Ferrell, PhD, MSN,Director & Professor, Division of Nursing Research and Education, Department of Population Sciences, City of Hope.
We look forward to you joining us!
This event is presented in Oregon’s ongoing commitment to freely share our successes and struggles in creating a process that records and honors the treatment goals of those with serious illnesses who are nearing the end of their lives.
Recorded Webinar on New Innovations:
Oregon POLST Registry Expands Access and Informs Quality
Last month, professionals from across the country attended a webinar presented by the Director of the Oregon POLST Registry, Abby Dotson, PhD and the Chair of the Oregon POLST Coalition, Susan Tolle, MD.
The presentation included a demonstration of the Registry's new Provider Portal by Dr. Dotson, including how to enroll. The gold standard remains as a single logon and one-click access within the patient’s EHR. This freestanding ePOLST portal will permit providers, who would otherwise not have access toa bi-directional platform integrated in their EHR, to gain access to the full POLST Registry database. Access to the Provider Portal will require a separate logon. This cost-free alternative for health care professionals will fill a much needed gap for smaller health organizations.
View the 51-minute video on YouTube by clicking here.
New Changes to Washington State's POLST Form
Washington State recently completed a comprehensive, two and a half year-long process of revising its POLST form. Reaching consensus when revising a state's POLST form is a challenge, and we applaud their successful efforts!
Notable changes include a more inclusive name (Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) and the removal of the sections with orders for antibiotics and artificial nutrition.
The new form can be viewed at their website: wsma.org/POLST.
Coming Soon!
A New Website for the Oregon POLST Program
In keeping pace with the continuous innovations of Oregon POLST, we find that it is time for us to refresh our online presence. Therefore, we will reveal an entirely new look to our website later this summer.
Watch this space!
Hard-stop in ePOLST on Section C:
Documenting Who Participated in
a Patient's POLST Discussion
The Oregon POLST Coalition's subcommittee for Quality Improvement voted unanimously to authorize health systems to implement a "hard-stop" on Section C within ePOLST systems, if they so choose. Those using ePOLST may require documentation of who was presentfor a POLST discussion. Providence, Kaiser, Vynca and the OPR Provider Portal have implemented this change in their ePOLST systems. Paper forms are not impacted by this change.
This option allows those health systems using ePOLST to raise their systems' quality standards. This decision is similar to the hard-stop ePOLST option that was recently approved for CPR/Limited Treatment, which has been implemented by all Oregon ePOLST users.
The Oregon POLST Program wishes you and those you serve to remain
well & safe during these challenging times.
