The experience of patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and advance care-planning: a South Australian perspective

Advance care-planning conversations with people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are important because of the severity of the disease and the unpredictable timing of death. Advance care-planning is a process involving conversations about future wishes, including end-of-life care and the appointment of a substitute decision-maker. This qualitative research explored issues relating to end-of-life decisions with 15 individuals and their carers living in the community who had severe COPD. Findings indicated that, although patients and carers would welcome the opportunity to discuss end-of-life decisions, almost no conversation about care-planning had been initiated by health professionals with any of the participants. It also demonstrated that professional support is required to assist with advance care-planning and the completion of the legal advance directive documents.M. Brown, M.A. Brooksbank, T.A. Burgess, M. Young and G.B. Crawfordhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343185