POLST forms are medical orders and must be completed and signed by a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. At times a patient or family member will obtain a form and attempt to complete it. It may be necessary for health care professionals to advise the family of the correct approach. The following statement is a recommendation for use as an explanation for patients.
The form is completed by your health care provider after discussing what is important to you, your current diagnosis, what is likely to happen in the future and what your treatment options are. Since the POLST form is how your provider tells another provider what you want, the words and phrases on the form use medical terminology. The POLST form was not created for patients to fill out and complete: your provider should be the person filling it out after talking with you.
