As a critical care doctor, I want to inform you that Advance care planning as it is currently done does not meet the needs of your clients.
Unfortunately, most people who become seriously ill (and their Representatives) are ill-prepared to make good clinical decisions with doctors. Consequently, patients are getting prescribed medical treatments that fail to align with their personal authentic values and treatment preferences. Additionally, their Representatives experience significant stress and live with guilt, anxiety and distress.
We believe all this suffering can be prevented by working together towards a new way of planning for incapacitation and death. Join us in providing your clients with a better planning tool, and consequently, better care.
Advise your clients to explore the Plan Well Guide website, either before their visit or during your meeting with them. We have an introduction letter which explains the Plan Well Guide site and it can be attached to an email or printed and handed out in person.
Encourage your clients to complete the planning process and bring the resulting letters to their next visit. You can use our complimentary promotional resources to help explain the letters to your clients.
If you are finding that clients come back to the second appointment not having completed their Dear Doctor and Dear SDM letters, we would encourage you to have your assistant send an email reminder in between appointments.
To have maximal impact, upon the client’s return visit, make a copy of the Dear Doctor and Dear SDM letters and to include them with your client’s planning documents.
Clients should be advised of the importance of communicating the contents of their letters to their legally appointed Representative and their doctor to finalize their advance serious illness planning.
