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March 1, 2022

Oregon POLST® Program News
 
Innovative EMS POLST App
Abby Dotson, PhD, Oregon POLST Registry’s director and Petar Hossick, EMS Coalition representative and EMS Training Captain from Bend Fire and Rescue, have been developing a smartphone app for Oregon’s EMS first responders. Working in partnership with Beyond Lucid Technologies, the Android and iPhone app will allow authorized EMS technicians to quickly access existing POLST forms when responding to medical emergencies in the field. Pilot testing will begin in the Bend area with plans for statewide implementation to follow.
Oregon POLST Registry: 2021 Annual Report
The Oregon POLST Registry has recently released its Annual Report for 2021. The Registry is supported by the Oregon Health Authority by means of a contract with the OHSU Department of Emergency Medicine. The report was prepared by Oregon POLST Registry (OPR) Director Abby Dotson, PhD. Data from OPR has proven invaluable in our statewide quality improvement efforts.
 
 
Expanding Oregon POLST Coalition Leadership
A decision was made by the Coalition’s leadership team to expand our work in education and quality improvement by creating a new Co-chair position for the Oregon POLST Coalition.

Christine Mullowney, MD, OHSU’s Coalition representative, has accepted the position. Christine joined the OHSU Division of General Internal Medicine in 2010 and has led its primary care quality improvement efforts.

New Clear Language POLST Factsheets
in English and Spanish

A new POLST factsheet has been tailored for potential first-time users of POLST. Our goal is to make POLST information less intimidating by empowering individuals to decide if POLST is right for them. The drafting group concentrated on providing an increased whitespace to text ratio, greater cultural inclusion with images reflecting broader cultural diversity, and reducing the material’s reading level, which will be field-tested soon in low-literacy populations. Our ultimate goal is to partner with Community Health Workers to adapt the factsheet into 13 additional languages. We have posted working versions of this new factsheet in English and Spanish on the POLST website.
13 New Translations of Oregon’s POLST Form
We recently posted 13 additional languages of the front page of Oregon’s POLST form to our website. These additional translations enhances our culturally inclusive efforts to help educate POLST appropriate individuals whose primary language is not English, and include:
For years, the Oregon POLST Program has offered a Spanish version of POLST along with a Spanish dedicated webpage.

Translated versions are offered to improve POLST comprehension during conversations between health care professionals, their patients and health surrogates. These translated versions of the Oregon POLST form are not for health care professionals or patients to sign and are intended for educational purposes only.
The most recent data from the American Community Survey estimates 1 in 17 Oregonians, or over 200,000 people, qualify as limited English proficient (LEP) meaning they speak English less than “very well” or not at all.
Presentation on Advance Directives:
Are We Expecting More Than They Can Deliver?

On March 25th, Dr. Susan Tolle, Director of OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care and Chair of the Oregon POLST Coalition, will present Advance Directives: Are We Expecting More Than They Can Deliver? as part of the lecture series: Trust in the Ruins. Dr. Tolle will examine ways that Advance Directives are effective and review data about the short comings of advance directives.

To attend this one-hour virtual event on Friday, March 25 at 8:00am, register HERE.
The Oregon POLST Program values every supportive thought, each helpful effort or any act of kindness shared with another person during the pandemic.
 
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Anthony Antoville
Executive Director, Oregon POLST Program
OHSU - Center for Ethics in Health Care
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, UHN-86
Portland, OR 97239
503-494-3965
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