Knowledge of Advance Directives in Our Community

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Issue Date
2016
Authors
Grasso, Trinity
Publisher
Keywords
Advance directives (Medical care) , Terminal care , Patient advocacy , Living wills
Abstract
Advance directives are a significant part of the healthcare community but are often overlooked. This form is a written out healthcare plan that outlines medical decisions that the patient would or would not like to receive in the situation that he or she becomes unresponsive. As crucial as such plans are, only 5%-39% of people actually have one, depending on the facility they are in. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are required to inquire and inform about such documents, however they are only useful if patients actually complete them. The concern is that too many people overlook such forms as unnecessary when they could be crucial to their lives in the future. In light of this concern, the Phi Theta Kappa honors society has chosen this topic as one of their research themes. The overall study is on community knowledge of advance directives and if increased education about them would lead more people to complete advance care planning. The goal of this research project is to investigate the amount of people in the Cobleskill community that are aware of such forms, and how many have completed one. Included in our research is how past and present living will forms have been beneficial in a healthcare setting. After reviewing other surveys and questionnaires about advance directives, we designed our own survey to be administered to SUNY Cobleskill college community including students, faculty and staff. Furthermore, the survey will also be administered to the Cobleskill community with the help of the Rotary Club. The survey instrument has been reviewed and accepted by the Institutional Research Board of Cobleskill. Survey administration and data collection are in progress. Data collected from the study will be statistically analyzed and the results will be presented.
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