The Objectives of Health Care Facility Protocols

Abstract

Health facility administrators create policies and guidelines to promote treatment practices that conform to the views and interests to which the facility is accountable. With regard to designing protocols to improve the elective use of life-sustaining treatments, attention has focused on decision making (e.g., affirmations of patient autonomy or the need for advance treatment planning) and treatment implementation (e.g., interstaff communication). Less attention has been paid to how the elective use of life-sustaining treatments affects the totality of responsibilities of health care facilities. In this broader setting, these administrative protocols not only advance a new view of patient-centered decision making, but also mediate a diverse and to some degree conflicting set of institutional duties.