Article | Advance Care Planning

Running head: ADVANCE CARE PLANNING 1
Advance Care Planning
Student’s Name
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ADVANCE CARE PLANNING 2
Introduction
The Advance Care Planning (ACP) creates a plan to be utilized for future
wellbeing along with personal care in case individuals lose their capacity in decision
making (Sudore et al., 2017). ACP improves end of life attention in agreement with an
individual's wants. It is a beneficial process for every adult specifically those with a
deadly or long-term disease whose wellbeing is probable to deteriorate.
Its concept is to address decision making at the end of life to respect autonomy,
preferences, choice together with individual principles of the patient in the future time of
declined capacity (Johnson, Butow, Kerridge, Bell & Tattersall, 2018). The essay
discusses the ethical dilemma of ACP, ethical principles affiliated with ACP/ACD, and
the best practice in preparation alongside the utilization of ACP/ACD. Moreover, it
supports the use of ACP/ACD and explains the relevant legal framework of ACP in
Victoria.
The ethical dilemma of Advance Care Planning
An ethical dilemma occurs to health professionals who do not have an
exhaustive comprehension of the motivations of the patient (Yu, Brown, Kodner & Ray,
2015). Therefore, they are confronted with formerly recorded predilections that may
have been made with negligible understanding of possible results.
Ethical dilemmas of ACP comprise of whether to interpret advance care plans in
principle or to the letter. Also, it includes when to establish a plan where scheduling has
to facilitate autonomy along with misunderstanding and ill-informed decisions.
Moreover, health professionals might be faced with a challenge in what different models
of decision making to use (Gómez-Batiste et al., 2017).
Ethical principles relevant to ACP/ACD
The ethical principles which direct activities alongside reactions to the situations
are logical with principles applicable in every area of health care. They include self-
determination, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence. In self-determination, the
principle necessitates the professionals to maintain the person’s right to self-
determination notwithstanding the person has lost his capacity of decision making
through the correct use of advance directives (Jeffrey, 2018).

ADVANCE CARE PLANNING 3
The beneficence principle requires the professionals to advocate for what is good
for the patient and ensure that the autonomy of the individual is not violated in trying to
do what the practitioner view is in the favor of the patient (Jeffrey, 2018). However, the
ethical principle of non-maleficence necessitates the clinical professional not to inflict
harm intentionally and for the justice principle demands fairness in the delivery of health
services.
Best practice in preparation and utilization of ACP/ACD
During the preparation of ACP/ACD, health professionals should ensure that the
facts about the clinical circumstances of the person are accurate. They should be
familiar with the person’s medical records to establish their present health status and
also ascertain that the records are current. Moreover, health practitioners should review
the emotional, social and psychological status of the patient to gauge how they might
react to the ACP discussion (Lum, Sudore & Bekelman, 2015).
Consequently, in the utilization of ACP/ACD, the practitioners should convene a
case conference if needed and allow adequate time for the discussion and repeat
information in case it is not understood. Furthermore, they should allow time to confer
with a more experienced peer In case the ensuing conversation is troubling or it needs
to be de-briefed (Lum et al., 2015). Finally, the professionals should gain current
comprehension on the underlying disorder of the person and correct therapeutic
alternatives.
Logical argument
The utilization of ACP/D should be encouraged in health care. Before an
individual encounters deterioration because of life-threatening disease, Advance Care
Planning can assist in optimizing an individual’s quality of life. Also, it can enable the
individual together with the family to maintain a sense of control over their care and
treatment (Van Scoy et al., 2017).
The ACP procedure is a multidisciplinary approach that enables people to
partner with clinical staff in shaping the course of their care. In this way, it encourages
those engaged in the treatment and care of the patient to agree on a unified care plan
which reflects the preferences of the individual within the context of their values, goals,
and beliefs (Van Scoy et al., 2017).