Patient-Centered Advance Care Planning

A Patient-Centered Approach to Advance Care Planning of Patients With End Stage Heart Failure and Renal Disease

Based on theories regarding decision-making and patient education the investigators have developed Patient-Centered Advance Care Planning (PC-ACP). This intervention is designed to improve patient and surrogate knowledge of ACP, increase the congruence between patient and surrogate in treatment decisions, decrease the patient's and surrogate's conflict in making such decisions, and increase the consistency between patient preferences and the actual care they receive. The ACP intervention is conducted with the patient in the presence of the surrogate.

Inclusion Criteria:

• At high risk for impending death in the next 12 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient not having decision-making capacity