Advance Directives and the Roles of Advanced Practice Nurses

Koh, Chin-Kang

Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing 2010;3(2):91-99.
Published online December 31, 2010.

사전의사결정 제도에 있어서의 전문간호사 역할

고진강

서울대학교 간호대학

Advance Directives and the Roles of Advanced Practice Nurses

Chin-Kang Koh

College of Nursing, Seoul National University

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this literature review was to describe the roles of advanced practice nurses related to advance directives.
Methods
A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing Pubmed, Ovid, and CINAHL. The key words for search were 'advance directives', 'living wills', 'durable power of attorney', 'advanced practice nursing', 'advanced practice nurse', 'nurse practitioner', and 'nurse specialist'. Research articles published between January 1990 and September 2010 and written in English were included. Review papers and expert's opinion were excluded.
Results
Five articles were yielded and analyzed. Among them, two focused on the advanced practice nurses' role during the process of advance directives. The other three presented the outcomes depending on the type of nurses' involvement in each health care delivery system.
Conclusion
Recently, Korea established advance directives and expanded to diverse sites. Advanced practice nurses' role in the advance directive decision-making process should be examined and developed in research and practice.

Key Words: Advance directives, Advanced practice nurse