Oregon's POLST Orders Are Going Electronic

Oregon, the state that pioneered the POLST order ("Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment"), annouced that they are building an electronic registry of the orders that will be available in 2009. The registry is completely voluntary and will allow paramedics and other emergency workers to call a central hotline to find out if a patient has a POLST order. A survey by the Oregon Health & Science University found that paramedics were not always able to find a patients POLST order during a medical emergency.

The Hospice and Caregiving Blog has previously posted about the POLST form.http://www.hospicefoundation.org/blog/2007/12/why-talking-about-end-of-life-issues-is.html
http://www.hospicefoundation.org/blog/2007/11/states-looking-into-developing-new-end.html