Welcome to the POLST Illinois website. POLST is a state approved form that allows people with a serious illness to receive the medical treatments they want and avoid the ones they don’t want in a medical emergency. POLST Illinois is a committee of diverse health professionals that educates Illinoisans and healthcare providers about the POLST process and supports patient-centered decisions about care.
Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment
(
POLST
)
Ensuring that seriously ill people receive the treatments they want and avoid the treatments they do not want near the end of life.
The POLST decision-making process and resulting medical orders are intended for people
of any age who are at risk for a life-threatening clinical event because they have a serious life-limiting medical condition, which may include advanced frailty.
POLST IL COMMITTEE
Supporting the professionals and organizations that provide high quality healthcare to people facing serious illness
In December 2020, members of the POLST Illinois Committee served on a multi-stakeholder advisory panel helping the Illinois Department of Public Health to develop a report on the feasibility of a statewide POLST registry.
POLST Illinois & numerous healthcare provider groups are supporting new legislation sponsored by Senator Sara Feigenholtz of Chicago to improve the POLST program for the citizens in our state.
Memorial Health System in Springfield launches a comprehensive POLST Train the Trainer Program for nursing homes in their service area, providing continuing education credit and growing POLST knowledge with their LTC partners.
The POLST form is
available in English and Spanish. To ensure emergency personnel can understand and follow the orders, it is
recommended that the POLST form be documented in English.
The Spanish version of the form is helpful for educational
purposes.
