Use of a State Registry to Compare Practices of Physicians and Nurse Practitioners in Completing Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Forms.

Understanding the role of nonphysicians in Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) completion is limited. To examine the role that nurse practitioners (NPs) play in POLST completion and differences between NPs and physicians in POLST orders. Retrospective observational study.

How COVID-19 Changed Advance Care Planning: Insights From the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care.

Context: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to increased attention nationally on advance care planning.

Objectives: To describe the impact COVID-19 had on advance care planning based on changes in the calls to the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care (center) and in the volume and types of documents requested from and submitted to the center and its e-Directive Registry (registry).

Methods: A retrospective and observational analysis between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020 of calls to the center; advance directives downloaded from the center's Web site as well as mailed to the public and medical orders mailed to health care professionals on request to the center; and advance directives and medical orders submitted to the registry.