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Options for Artifical Hydration or Nutrition

At the recent MN POLST Task Force Meeting, we deferred a decision regarding language for a section of the POLST related to artificial (e.g. NG, gastrostomy or IV) fluids and nutrition.

The link below has five other state's POLST language regarding this.

All address feeding tubes, but only some address IV fluids.

None address SQ hydration (hypodermoclysis), a practical and accepted approach to short term hydration, especially at home and in hospice. See: www.aafp.org/afp/20011101/1575.html

None address the difference between no answers in this section and desire for the intervention.

I suggest we adopt a Yes / No box for each of the choices, which leaves the third option of no answer (where no preference has been expressed). The choices are: SQ fluids, IV fluids, NG feeding, and feeding through gastrostomy/duodenal tube.

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Posted by Edward Ratner on April 7, 2009 9:59 PM |

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