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Simple advance directive identifier limits confusion

Accreditation Connection, March 20, 2008

Attached to every patient chart at Garrett County Memorial Hospital in Oakland, MD, you will find a red plastic sheet. The sheet is easy to locate quickly in the documentation and handy for verifying information during an emergency situation-which is important, since the plastic sheet contains the patient's advance directive information.

It seems like a simple fix: electing to use a brightly colored plastic cover for legal paperwork in the patient's record. But given how sensitive the issue of advance directives is, and how it can require split-second decisions to be made about the treatment a patient in distress will receive, a simple but effective method of communicating advance directive information is pivotal.

"We knew we needed a better solution," says Charlene Bennett, RNC, BSN, MSHA, Joint Commission coordinator and nurse manager of the obstetrics department for Garrett County Memorial Hospital. "We had problems quickly finding the power of attorney paperwork or advance directives. So staff members began engaging in a tracking mechanism to track how difficult it was to get to this information in certain situations."

Access the full story in the March issue of Briefings on The Joint Commission. Access is free for BOJ subscribers; nonsubscribers can purchase a copy of the story for $10 by clicking here.

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