Much of the recent published literature on POLST is positive -- showing how POLST assures that the treatment patients want is the treatment patients get. But enacting a law does not change practice. A great deal of education and training is required. Take, for example, the results of a New York City and Long Island survey published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Almost 1/2 of respondents agreed with the statement: "I would perform CPR on all patients rather than wasting time trying to find a MOLST document." More than 1/3 said that slow codes are sometimes or frequently justified. Nearly 1/3 were unaware that a photocopy was as valid as an original.
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