Advance care, Trusted care
Your healthcare decisions reflect specific values, beliefs and preferences which may change over time. Advance Care Planning is an ongoing process to help us understand what is most important to you about your health now and in the future. Your team at Oregon Oncology Specialists cares about you and believes that you have the right to understand your treatment options and always have a voice in your care decisions.
Our Advance Care Planning team spends time with you to engage in meaningful conversation about your health preferences, review your medical condition, goals of treatment, and who can make decisions for you in the event you are unable. It helps to share with your family, friends, caregivers and healthcare team what you value, to ensure your wishes will be honored in the event you become ill. Together, we attempt to ease the emotional burden for loved ones and protect your right to choose.
What to expect during an Advance Care Planning Visit:
- Learning about medical treatment options and goals for treatment outcomes
- Taking time to explore thoughts and feelings about life-saving or life-sustaining treatments
- Choosing a health care advocate
- Putting those wishes into writing
How do I make my health wishes known?
After we discuss your health care wishes, we will work on completing the paperwork and once completed, offer to share the completed paperwork with other members of your health care team.
Advance Care Planning Options:
- Medical power of attorney– A designation, that enables a person to handle health care related-decisions on a patient’s behalf (based on patient’s expressed health care wishes).
- Advance Directive– A written statement of a person’s wishes regarding medical treatment, often including a living will, to ensure those wishes are carried out should the person be unable to communicate them to their medical team.
- POLST form (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment)– A medical order that tells emergency health care professionals what to do in case of medical crisis if a patient cannot speak for himself.
If you have completed an Advance Care Planning document, bring a copy with you to your next appointment to review and ensure your health record is updated.
If you would like to discuss Advance Care Planning with your provider, please call us at (503) 561-6444 to schedule an appointment.