COVID-19-Specific Advance Care Planning Conversation Resources
| Having the conversation | Suggested phrasing | Resource and description |
|---|---|---|
| Setting the context | “We help individuals and their healthcare agents/families talk about and plan for their care, before a medical crisis occurs. We want to know your values and preferences which will help us understand what matters most to you should you become ill due to complications of COVID-19.”17 | Respecting Choiceshttps://respectingchoices.org/covid-19-resources/Information for clinicians and patients on advance care planning conversations and a decision aid for discussing CPR. |
| Choosing a surrogate decision maker | “You are right to be concerned [about the coronavirus]. Here’s what you can do. Please limit your contact with others—we call it social distancing. Then you should pick a person who knows you well enough to talk to doctors for you if you did get really sick. That person is your proxy.”18 | VITALtalkhttps://www.vitaltalk.org/guides/covid-19-communication-skills/PDFs available in multiple languages.Website and app (Apple or Android) with communication frameworks for goals of care and other often challenging conversations. |
| Previous experience with illness | “Have you ever had your own experience with serious illness or a friend or family member who was very sick or dying? When you think back, what do you think went well and what did not go well?”19 | Center to Advance Palliative Carehttps://www.capc.org/toolkits/covid-19-response-resources/COVID-19 response resources publicly available. Other resources available with membership, continuing medical education credit available. |
| Code status | “Some people, especially those who are young and healthy, will get better with routine hospital care. But many, especially those who are older and sicker, are not likely to survive even with a ventilator (breathing machine).”20 | Ariadne LabsThe Conversation Projecthttps://theconversationproject.org/covid19/Includes the guide for patients “Being Prepared in the Time of COVID,” available in English and Spanish. |
| Further exploring values | “People may feel very different about this now in their current health and in the future if they were to get very sick, such as if they were to get Coronavirus. Have you thought about this?”21 | PREPARE for your care (University of California, San Francisco) also has free online guides in English and Spanish to help patients make a medical plan during COVID-19. |