Health professionals from Columbus will present on the POLST: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment on Saturday at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).
The presentation will be held in the Collaborating Commons Room of UNO’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Lisa Weber-Kohler, a medical social worker at the Columbus Community Hospital, and Milton Zadina, M.D., a family practice physician, will present at the “Coffee, Tea and Policy” event, which is open to the public.
According to the national POLST Web site, “The POLST Paradigm program is designed to improve the quality of care people receive at the end of life. It is based on effective communication of patient wishes, documentation of medical orders on a brightly colored form and a promise by health care professionals to honor these wishes.”
The POLST Paradigm already has been successfully implemented in the Columbus community and the model is now being used to develop programs in Grand Island and Kearney.
The POLST Paradigm will take advanced care planning and end of life decision-making out of the legal arena and into the medical community, Weber-Kohler said.
The event is sponsored by UNO’s Lifelong Learning Initiative and Democracy Matters. For more information, call 402-554-4897 or 402-554-2292.