Changes in decision-making process for life-sustaining treatment in patients with advanced cancer after the life-sustaining treatment decisions-making act

Table 2 Documentation of DNR or POLST before (Group 1) and after (Group 2) the implementation of the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Act

Variables			Group 1 (n=943)	Group 2 (n=891)	p-value
DNR or POLST documentation	Completed documentation		713 (75.6%)	775 (87.0%)	<0.001
	Type of document	DNR	713 (100%)	4 (0.5%)	<0.001
	Type of document	POLST	-	771 (99.5%)	<0.001
Decision makers^a	Patients		11 (1.5%)	492 (63.5%)	<0.001
Decision makers^a	Surrogate decision-makers		702 (98.5%)	283 (36.5%)	<0.001
DNR or POLST documentation prior to death, day (Mean ± SD)^a			14.4 ± 32.5	21.2 ± 43.8	0.001
DNR or POLST documentation within 7 days of death^a			439 (56.1%)	369 (47.6%)	<0.001

^a analyzed from cases with documented DNR or POLST (n=1488; 783 from group 1, 775 from group 2)
DNR do not resuscitate; POLST Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment; SD standard deviation

ISSN: 1472-684X