Associations
There are many organizations that work on the issues surrounding emergency, critical, and end-of-life care, as well as advance medical directives. Here are some that can be used to help your exploration of what is involved.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
The world's largest specialty nursing organization, AACCN is dedicated to creating a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families, where acute and critical-care nurses make their optimal contribution.
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
For more than 20 years, the Academy has dedicated itself to advancing hospice and palliative medicine and improving the care of patients with life-threatening or serious conditions.
Caring Connections
Caring Connections is a national consumer and community engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life. They provide free resources and information to help people make decisions about end-of-life care and services before a crisis. They provide state-specific information on medical directives and multilingual support.
Family Caregiver Alliance
FCA’s pioneer programs in information, education, services, research, and advocacy support and sustain the important work of families nationwide who are caring for loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions. They offer programs at the local and national level and provide information in Spanish and Chinese.
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
HPNA is the nation's largest and oldest professional nursing organization dedicated to promoting excellence in hospice and palliative nursing care.
National Alliance for Caregiving
A nonprofit coalition of national organizations focusing on family caregiving issues, the National Alliance for Caregiving works to improve the quality of life for families and care recipients.
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
NHPCO is the largest non-profit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the U.S. NHPCO is committed to improving end-of-life care and expanding access to hospice care while profoundly enhancing quality of life for people who are dying.
Talk Early … Talk Often
Talk Early Talk Often helps families develop the skills to talk with aging relatives about end-of-life issues, such as advance medical directives, financing, pets, driving, housing, safety, health and fitness, Alzheimer's, and spirituality. It also has information on state and federal programs.
Health IT.gov
Health information technology (Health IT) makes it possible for healthcare providers to better manage patient care through secure use and sharing of health information. Health IT includes the use of electronic health records (EHRs) instead of paper medical records to maintain people's health information.