Wyoming Provider Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment

Making decisions regarding what healthcare interventions are wanted at the end of life can be overwhelming. Having conversations about final wishes can be difficult and painful. Making sure those desires are upheld can be paralyzing for family members.

Advance Directives are documents initiated by patients, outlining the types of healthcare interventions they wish for themselves You can customize and print your Advance Directive at www.cchwyo.org/AD.

A new law passed last year called WyoPOLST (Wyoming Provider Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment), created a medical order form that is signed by the patient’s provider, carried by the patient and acts as a physician order in any healthcare setting. The purpose of a WyoPOLST is to place a patient’s final wishes in an actionable medical order that becomes part of the healthcare planning process and must be followed by healthcare providers throughout the state. Sometimes called a Do Not Resuscitate order, (DNR), WyoPOLST is a complement to Advance Directives or Living Wills, and replaces the current statewide program called COMFORT ONE©, which also gave providers direction on the patient’s expectations regarding life sustaining measures.

Campbell County residents, particularly individuals who have irreversible conditions, a life expectancy of less than one year, or who are frail and elderly, are encouraged to have a conversation with their family and healthcare providers regarding the WyoPOLST. Once the WyiPOLST form is signed by a provider it becomes an actionable medical order in any healthcare setting. The State of Wyoming and Campbell County Health suggest hanging this yellow or gold form on the refrigerator door for quick access for emergency responders. The emergency responders will make sure the form travels to the hospital with the patient. It is also recommended that patients take this form with them for a planned medical procedure or when traveling.

Campbell County Health has been working on how the WyoPOLST will be implemented in our organization for the last several months, and there is more work to be done to clarify how the POLST is added the medical record, and how to ensure that patients with a POLST are identified upon admission or during treatment.

Additional information regarding WyoPOLST and the WyoPOLST form can be found by visiting:

• Wyoming Medical Society, www.wyomed.org/wyopolst
• Wyoming Department of Health, www.health.wyo.gov/polst