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It Always Seems Too Early Until It Is Too Late

On a recent Webinar, Nancy Joyner, Honoring Choices, shared her insight, experiences and practical tools to help us with the conversations we want to avoid at all cost. It is the conversation about how we want to live until the last day of our life, part of the advance care planning process. In this COVID pandemic, more people are facing their mortality and recognizing the value of these most critical conversations. There is no time like the present to have difficult conversations with the ones we love about ‘what matters’.

If you missed Joyner’s presentation, you can access the recording and presentation below.
Access the recording | Access the presentation

Nancy JoynerJoyner spent some time reviewing the difference between a healthcare directive and a form, such as POLST or MOST. She also offered specific action steps we can use to educate our colleagues on advance care planning conversations. Audience members were challenged to plan and facilitate conversations about individual choices, values and wishes.

In January 2020, Joyner co-authored an article, The Pearls of Post, in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. In the article, the authors discuss advance care planning, advance directives, changes in patient status and the inception and description of POLST. They distinguish POLST from DNR orders, compare POLST to advance directives and describe the roles of registered and advanced practice nurses. Additionally, they consider studies that have endorsed the POLST paradigm and share POLST paradigm pearls as well as possible paradigm pitfalls. Access the article

“Joyner is passionate about the topic of advance care planning and is an expert in her field. We are fortunate to have her as a leader in North Dakota. I learned so much from her presentation and will plan to utilize some of the tools she offered in conversations I have with my own family. In her 60-minute session, she offered resources, guidance and tools to bring the topic to light in healthcare organizations as well as in our own homes and inner circles,” stated Keri McDermott, Great Plains Quality Innovation Network.

Tools to Get the Conversation Started

Additional Resources


Honoring Choices North Dakota

The Center for Rural Health and Honoring Choices North Dakota have partnered to offer, at no charge, 2020/2021 North Dakota POLST Awareness, Education and Implementation.

To provide an opportunity for everyone to get educated, this training will be held live on the following dates:

  • Wednesday 12/9 @ 2pm
  • Wednesday 1/13 @ Noon 
  • Wednesday 2/10 @ Noon 
  • Wednesday 3/10 @ 2pm 

Why attend?

  • Acquire new skills, competencies, and best practices regarding POLST
  • Learn about best practices and scripting for patients with serious and life threatening illnesses
  • Enhance your awareness and education about POLST in North Dakota

Target Audience: Advanced Practice Nurses, Nurses, Social Workers, Chaplains, & EMS (but open to anyone)

This training has been approved for one contact hour by the North Dakota Board of Nursing, North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners, ND Department of Health – EMS Division and the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc.

Participants must register in advance in order to receive the login information. For more information on this program, contact Nancy Joyner at Nancy.joyner@honoringchoicesnd.org. Questions about registration? Contact kylie.nissen@und.edu.