EVIDENCE SUMMARY
The POLST form offers choices within 4 treatment areas: “attempt CPR” or “allow natural death” if the patient is in cardiopulmonary arrest; “comfort,” “limited,” or “full” medical interventions if pulse or breathing is present; choices of additional orders, including intravenous fluids, feeding tubes, and antibiotics; and additional written orders. Most POLST studies used cross-sectional and retrospective cohort designs and assessed whether CPR was attempted. Fewer studies also evaluated adherence to orders in the other treatment areas.
Community settings: Patients with POLST more likely to die out of hospital
The largest study of POLST use in community settings evaluated deaths in Oregon over one year.1 It found that patients who indicated “do not attempt CPR” on a POLST form were 6 times more likely to die a natural, out-of-hospital death than those who had no POLST form (TABLE1-10).
A West Virginia study found that patients with POLST forms had 30% higher out-of-hospital death rates than those with traditional advanced directives and no POLST.2 In a Wisconsin study, no decedents who indicated DNR on their POLST forms received CPR.3
One study that evaluated the consistency of actual medical interventions with POLST orders in all 4 treatment areas found it to be good in most areas (“feeding tubes,” “attempting CPR.” “antibiotics,” and “IV fluids”) except “additional written orders.4