Biomaterial Database

Advance directives: do they work? 1995

L L Emanuel

Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

Advance directives have been widely endorsed, and empiric work has taken place that can aid clinicians in the appropriate use of validated documents. This report reviews philosophic and methodologic issues and offers practical illustrations. Despite the evidence that advance directives can work, there are serious barriers to their actual use. Therefore, these barriers are evaluated and potential solutions suggested.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011379	Prognosis	A prediction of the probable outcome of a disease based on a individual's condition and the usual course of the disease as seen in similar situations.	Prognostic Factor,Prognostic Factors,Factor, Prognostic,Factors, Prognostic,Prognoses
D003657	Decision Making	The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea.	Credit Assignment,Assignment, Credit,Assignments, Credit,Credit Assignments
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D015203	Reproducibility of Results	The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.	Reliability and Validity,Reliability of Result,Reproducibility Of Result,Reproducibility of Finding,Validity of Result,Validity of Results,Face Validity,Reliability (Epidemiology),Reliability of Results,Reproducibility of Findings,Test-Retest Reliability,Validity (Epidemiology),Finding Reproducibilities,Finding Reproducibility,Of Result, Reproducibility,Of Results, Reproducibility,Reliabilities, Test-Retest,Reliability, Test-Retest,Result Reliabilities,Result Reliability,Result Validities,Result Validity,Result, Reproducibility Of,Results, Reproducibility Of,Test Retest Reliability,Validity and Reliability,Validity, Face
D016223	Advance Directives	Declarations by patients, made in advance of a situation in which they may be incompetent to decide about their own care, stating their treatment preferences or authorizing a third party to make decisions for them. (Bioethics Thesaurus)	Health Care Power of Attorney,Medical Power of Attorney,Healthcare Power of Attorney,Psychiatric Wills,Ulysses Contracts,Advance Directive,Attorney Healthcare Power,Attorney Medical Power,Contract, Ulysses,Contracts, Ulysses,Directive, Advance,Directives, Advance,Psychiatric Will,Ulysses Contract,Will, Psychiatric,Wills, Psychiatric
D024362	Advance Directive Adherence	Compliance by health personnel or proxies with the stipulations of ADVANCE DIRECTIVES (or similar directives such as RESUSCITATION ORDERS) when patients are unable to direct their own care.	Advance Directive Compliance,Directive Adherence,Adherence, Advance Directive,Adherence, Directive,Adherences, Directive,Compliance, Advance Directive,Directive Adherence, Advance,Directive Adherences,Directive Compliance, Advance