Table 4.

Percentage of Nursing Homes Reporting Difficulties in Using the POLST

	Overall	Coalition areas	Non-coalition areas	P-value*
Translating POLST into NH orders	8.8 %	8.2 %	9.3 %	0.75
Interpreting POLST to make treatment decisions	20.8 %	22.4 %	19.1 %	0.51
Physician participation in POLST completion	37.7 %	38.5 %	36.9 %	0.79
Getting physician to sign POLST	34.2 %	36.1	32.3	0.52
Following orders in a POLST	6.5 %	7.7 %	5.4 %	0.45
Getting Emergency Medical Services to follow POLST orders	5.9 %	4.6 %	7.3 %	0.36
Retrieving original POLST from other facilities	62.1 %	65.9 %	58.1 %	0.20
Family disagreement with POLST content	28.1 %	26.9 %	29.4 %	0.66

POLST Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, NH nursing home

^* P-value comparing nursing homes in coalition areas and non-coalition areas