A few weeks ago, a visitor to Geriatrics For Caregivers sent me a message via the contact form.
He explained that he is a hospital chaplain and that his workplace is considering using MyDirectives.com to help their patients with advance care planning.
“I would love to hear your opinion of the service,” he wrote.
I’d actually never heard of this service, but that’s not so surprising…new healthcare services for consumers emerge and evolve so quickly that even if I followed tech for aging adults full-time, I’d have difficulty keeping up.But I have a soft spot for advance care planning. So I decided to take a look at this website, in order to let the chaplain know what I thought.
And, as an experiment, I also decided to try recording myself visiting this advance care planning site.
So if you are wondering what I thought, or if you’d like to see what a practicing doc might do when a patient asks about some new-fangled web-based service, you can watch me explore MyDirectives below. (For audio-only, click here.)
Caveat: this is not a scripted talk, and it is not a comprehensive review. This is more like a window into my head when people ask me to take a look at some service related to my doctoring and interests.
Viewing guide:
00:01:30 — The question that prompted my visit to MyDirectives.com
00:02:30 — Browsing the public part of the site
00:05:25 — Signing up to try the service
00:05:54 — Getting started: “My current medical conditions”
00:07:41 — Considering the possibility of users with Alzheimer’s or another dementia
00:08:23 — What’s important to you? “My advance care goals”
00:10:09 — Preferences in case of future lost decision-making capacity or incompetence
00:11:37 — Is the lost capacity section about giving your surrogate flexibility?
00:12:20 — A pop-up: Imagine decision-making if you had Alzheimer’s which had progressed
00:12:58 — Would you want your doctors to consult a “Supportive and Palliative Care Team”?
00:14:12 — Backtracking to “what’s important”: what other seriously ill people have answered
00:15:00 — Wishes regarding terminal illness and life-sustaining treatments
00:16:16 — Wishes regarding CPR
00:18:11 — A quick look at PrepareForYourCare.org
00:18:19 — Wishes regarding final days
00:19:07 — Choosing a healthcare agent
00:19:42 — In case I’m being cared for by someone who doesn’t know me well
00:20:33 — Overview thoughts regarding this advance care planning service
00:21:32 — My four steps for advance care planning (see slide 17); how does this website match up?
00:22:15 — Final thoughts
If you’re a clinician who works with older adults: what new tools have you found helpful for advance care planning?
