Credits Hours: 1.00

Course Description:
End-of-life directives can pose significant problems for prehospital care providers, or they can bring resolution to an ongoing terminal illness. End-of-life directives, or advance directives, are designed to provide guidance to health care providers in carrying out patients' rights to self-determination as they approach death. This course will describe the types of end-of-life directives and review their components and the components of do not resuscitate orders and how to analyze the aspects of these documents that are pertinent to prehospital care. It also covers determining when termination of resuscitation is appropriate and the correct processes and methods for terminating these efforts.

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the participant will be able to:

• Differentiate between do not resuscitate (DNR) orders and other end-of-life directives.
• Identify the components of a DNR order and the significance of each component.
• Select methods and processes associated with end-of-life decisions, analyze end-of-life directives, and select those parts specific to out-of-hospital medical care.
• Determine when termination of resuscitation is appropriate, and choose the correct process for termination of resuscitation efforts.