During Advance Care Planning Week (16 – 22 March), Fight Parkinson’s is encouraging everyone in the Parkinson’s community to consider beginning the conversation on advance care planning–whether it’s with a friend, family member, or health care professional, now is a great time to embrace the topic.
What is advance care planning?
Advance care planning is a way to think about and record your health care preferences. It gives you the opportunity to think about, discuss, and record preferences for the type of care you would want and the outcomes you would consider acceptable if you become unable to make or communicate your treatment preferences in the future.
Why is it important?
Making your health care choices now with advance care planning, helps to ease the burden for your loved ones and ensure that your voice is heard.
According to Advance Care Planning Australia, research shows that advance care planning improves the quality of care, and personal and family satisfaction with care. Research also shows that advance care planning can reduce unwanted treatments and transfers to hospital.
How to prepare my advance care plan
Step 1: Think
Before talking to a trusted ‘decision-maker’, it’s important to take the time to think about:
- your health, values, beliefs, and preferences
- what you do and don’t want
- your wishes for care and any directions you want people to follow
- who you can trust to speak for you, if you’re unable.
There are no right or wrong answers–it’s about what you want for yourself. The following page can help you get started: Think about your choices | Advance Care Planning Australia
Step 2: Talk
The next step is to discuss your choices with the important people in your life. When you’re ready to talk with your friends, loved ones, or your doctor, Advance Care Planning Australia have prepared some ‘conversation starters’ to help you initiate the topic. Whether you’re the one sharing your own values and preferences, or you’re checking in with someone you care about to understand what matters to them, this resource can help.
Download the ‘Conversation Starters’ under the ‘Related resources for you’ section of this page.
Step 3: Record
The documents you can use to record your choices for future health care are different in each state and territory. They have different names, but they help you do similar things.
Visit Record your choices | Advance Care Planning Australia to learn more about the types of documents available, the laws that apply, and more.
Step 4: Share
Once you’ve completed your advance care planning documents, keep the originals in a safe place. If you’ve made the effort to prepare these documents, you’ll want to make sure they are used if the time ever comes.
It’s very important to share copies of your documents. Give them to the people who will be involved in making decisions about your care and treatment if you’re unable to decide for yourself.
Keep a list of who you give copies to, in case you decide to update them in the future.
More information on storing and sharing your advance care planning documents can be found here: Store and share your documents | Advance Care Planning Australia
Step 5: Review
Your advance care planning documents should reflect your current wishes. It’s okay to change your mind about a choice you’ve made or recorded. You can change or cancel your documents at any time, as long as you have decision-making capacity.
If your situation changes, review your documents and make sure they still match your values and goals. This helps your family, doctor, and health care team understand your preferences.
Keep in mind that there may be different processes for updating or cancelling documents depending on where you live. Check what applies in your state of territory here: Review your documents | Advance Care Planning Australia
Where to find support
Contact Fight Parkinson’s to assist you with any queries.
Free and confidential phone call to our health information line:
1800 931 031 (Open Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm)
(A free translation service is available on this line.)
Email: [email protected]
