Integrating POLST into palliative care guidelines: a paradigm shift in advance care planning in oncology.

Because predicting and outlining guidance for all possible scenarios is difficult, advance directives are rarely sufficiently precise to dictate patient preferences in specific situations as a disease progresses. Nonetheless, advance care planning is an essential process that should begin at the time of diagnosis, if not already initiated, to ensure that all patient and family rights are preserved. Communicating effectively with the patient and family and having the patient designate a surrogate decision-maker are critical.