Canadian critical care nurses and advance directives

Abstract

This article describes the findings from a survey which was conducted during the Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses (CACCN) September 1997 national conference. The survey was intended to identify Canadian critical care nurses' experience, knowledge, and opinions of advance directives. Major findings included that 80% of those surveyed had cared for at least one patient who had an advance directive, 89% were in favour of advance directives, 54% were familiar with their provincial legislation relating to advance directives, and 34% could correctly differentiate between an instructional and a proxy directive. The findings from this study suggest that while the majority of respondent Canadian critical care nurses have had some experience with advance directives, most require further education in order to use advance directives effectively in their daily practice.