We’re wrapping up our Advance Care Plan Series in collaboration with the amazing team from The Conversation Project from IHI, sharing the lessons we learned during our advance care planning process.  Creating an advance care plan is not an easy task, even if you’re not in the middle of a serious illness.  Family dynamics have a big influence on how conversations about end of life happen.  We learned it’s important to set aside a quiet time and place to talk with the ones you want to make your wishes known when you can’t speak for yourself.  There were emotional impacts to the advance care planning conversations as well.  Maybe it was awareness of our own mortality, or the recognition that we might not get the time we want with kids and grandkids.  There was even some concern that no one in the family feels like a good fit to be a healthcare proxy.  As healthcare providers, we gained a new perspective on patients’ and caregivers’ experience with end of life planning.  Maybe everyone who works in end of life care should gain this valuable insight into what our patients go through to make their wishes known. 

Check out The Conversation Project website here.

Get resources to get your conversation started here.

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Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

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