Crucial Conversations for High Risk Populations Before Surgery: Advance Care Planning in a Preoperative Setting

Background: High-risk patients undergoing elective surgery may experience life-threatening complications. Preoperative assessment clinics provide an opportunity to conduct Advance Care Planning but it is unknown how often this is accomplished or subsequently needed for goals of care discussions. Objective: 1) assess the relationship between advance directives with readmissions and mortality at one year 2) qualitatively examine clinical events that occurred for patients who died during follow-up. Design: This was an observational cohort study conducted via chart review. Patients were followed for one year. Participants: Four hundred patients who were undergoing preoperative evaluation for elective surgery at two academic hospitals. Main measures: The prevalence of advance directives at the time of surgery, prevalence of advance directives in the electronic medical record during the one year follow-up period, readmissions and mortality at one year. Key Results: Three hundred and ninety patients were included. There were 102 (26.4%) patients were readmitted, which was not associated with having an AD on file. Seventeen (4.4%) filed an AD during follow-up. Twelve of 19 (63%) patients who died had an AD on file at the time of death. There was a significant association between having an AD at any time with mortality (chi-square p-value <0.001). Total mortality for the cohort was 4.9%. Of the 19 patients who died, seven (37%) underwent resuscitation, four of whom had an AD on file. Conclusions: A minority of patients who die within a year after major surgery have an AD, highlighting the missed opportunity to conduct advance care planning in a preoperative clinic.