Improving the Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) form documentation process in an outpatient oncology clinic.

Abstract

299 Background: Advance care planning is an important aspect of providing high quality care to oncology patients. ASCO Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) recognizes the importance of advance directive documentation as a quality measure. MOLST forms are often completed to document a patient’s preferences for medical care at the end of life. The primary objective of this study was to improve the MOLST form documentation process in an outpatient solid tumor oncology clinic. Methods: We conducted a survey to identify areas for improvement and created a process map illustrating the complexities of the current MOLST form documentation process. A multidisciplinary team comprised of physicians, nurses, administrative staff, a quality improvement leader and a palliative care expert was created to focus on this initiative. We developed a new process whereby completed MOLST forms were uploaded into the electronic medical record (EMR) system. We implemented the following interventions: 1) made MOLST forms accessible to clinicians; 2) created a centralized location to place MOLST forms; 3) educated oncology staff about the new process; and 4) streamlined the MOLST form scanning process into the EMR. This process was studied during a pilot between January 22, 2018-February 2, 2018. A pre-pilot convenience sample was compared to pilot data. Results: Oncologists identified the need to improve the MOLST form documentation process on the pre-pilot survey. The percentage of completed MOLST forms scanned into the EMR increased from 44.4% (4 out of 9 forms) pre-pilot to 87.5% (7 out of 8 forms) during the pilot (p = 0.06). All of the MOLST forms completed using the new process were scanned into the EMR. Physician satisfaction with the MOLST process increased from 7.1% (2 out of 28 survey respondents) pre-pilot to 87.5% (14 out of 16 survey respondents) post-pilot (p < 0.01). Conclusions: A targeted process to enhance the documentation of completed MOLST forms succeeded and increased physician satisfaction. Further work will need to be performed to better identify oncology patients appropriate for MOLST form discussions.