Accreditation

National Healthcare Decisions Day is April 16, 2011

Accreditation Connection, March 25, 2011

National Healthcare Decisions Day, an event intended to encourage patients to express their wishes about their own healthcare and to urge organizations and facilities to respect those wishes, will take place on April 16, 2011.

This event, a collaborative effort between organizations on the national, state, and local level, targets the ongoing issue of raising public awareness for advance care planning so that the wishes of patients who become unable to speak for themselves can be carried out. The goals of the event are:

  • Increase awareness of the benefits of advance care planning so that Americans will be familiar with how to obtain and complete a healthcare power of attorney and/or living will, and talk to others about their decisions
  • Rally a national media campaign so that Americans will know how to access information and resources to help them make future healthcare decisions
  • Mobilize national, state and community organizations, healthcare providers and other key stakeholders to initiate outreach and educational activities for people to learn about advance care planning and complete advance directives and to honor those wishes when they become clinically relevant

More information can be found about the event at its official web site.

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