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POLST

Abbreviation Medical Law and Ethics

Physician (or provider) orders for life-sustaining treatment: a signed medical order form that states a seriously ill patient's treatment wishes.

Sources

Medical-Surgical Nursing, Chapter 32 Key Terms · OpenStax
Fundamentals of Nursing, Chapter 36 Key Terms · OpenStax
Paramedic use of the Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) for medical intervention and transportation decisions (BMC Emerg Med 2022) · PubMed Central (NLM)
Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Orders (Merck Manual Consumer Version, T. M. Pope, reviewed Aug 2025) · Merck & Co., Inc.

Related terms

HIPAAHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which sets federal privacy and security rules…
IRBInstitutional review board: a committee that reviews research to protect human participants.
PHIProtected health information: individually identifiable health information that HIPAA protects.
POAPower of attorney: a legal document letting one person act for another.

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