Provider Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Facilitator Training

Virtual Four-Part Series:  January 23 and 30; February 6 and 13, 2023

12:00pm – 1:30pm

Registration Deadline: January 20, 2023

The Foundation for Healthy Communities has served as the leading resource for advance care and end of life care planning, including POLST, for patients and their families, medical providers, hospitals, and health systems throughout the state since 1998.  The POLST Facilitator Training is for healthcare providers who want to be POLST facilitators for colleagues and staff within their organization and community.

As of 8/31/2021 POLST has become part of New Hampshire law and the State of NH has adopted the National POLST form.  POLST is a Portable Medical Order set that directs medical care for a patient suffering from advanced illness and/or frailty. The success of the POLST paradigm depends on a skilled and knowledgeable team of providers and associated professionals who can help a patient decide what medical care they want, and what they do not want; and then translate that into an actionable POLST form. This training is intended to provide skills to those professionals in the following areas:

• Full understanding of history, purpose, and application of POLST
• Legal and practical considerations and appropriate use
• Skills in introducing the discussion as well as completing the POLST form
• Field use of the POLST form
• Tool kit materials

The Foundation for Healthy Communities is offering this four-part series via Zoom to learn these skills. Participants will be expected to attend all four live sessions. The sessions will be interactive, and participation is required. Pre-session assignments will be made, and materials provided between sessions.

The successful implementation of a POLST program must be complemented by professionals who have developed the necessary communication skills to initiate advance care planning discussions that help individuals establish medical and non-medical goals of care. Professional skills include understanding end-of-life treatment options, benefits, and burdens, and building decision-making consensus among family members and the healthcare team. These skills often do not come naturally for professionals who provide individualized assistance in making difficult and challenging end-of-life decisions.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

4 PART SERIES: POLST WORKSHOP

Key Dates

Registration Deadline: January 20, 2023

Series Dates:  January 23 and 30; February 6 and 13

Time of Each Session:  12:00pm – 1:00pm (30 minutes follow for questions and discussion)

*Registrants will attend all four sessions and participation is required.

Instructors: Paul Drager, JD; Rosemary Crawford George, MSN RN; Phil Lawson, MD; Janice McDermott and Kate Swenson Tuttle, RN

Register Online: POLST Facilitator Program  

A $60.00 registration fee covers the administrative costs and training session materials. 

Meeting Information: Zoom Information to Be Sent to Attendees Prior to 1^st Session

Questions?

For more information about the pre-workshop preparation requirements or the facilitator training please contact Janice McDermott, POLST Program Coordinator, at [email protected].

For help with registration or mailing your payment, please contact [email protected].

Payment can be made online with a credit card.  If you need to mail payment, choose the “Show other payment methods”, click on Pay Offline and continue the registration process, then mail your payment of $60.00 checks payable to Foundation for Healthy Communities and mail to the Foundation for Healthy Communities, Attn: POLST Facilitator Education Program, 125 Airport Road, Concord, NH 03301.

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