Empowering patients and agents to help prevent errors with living wills, DNRs, and POLSTs.

Patient harm associated with advance directive interpretation errors is rare, but these mistakes can have negative psychological consequences for care teams, patients, and families. Discussing research exploring factors that contribute to these misunderstandings, this article recommends actions to help patients articulate end-of-life care preferences and ensure those instructions are accurately shared with their families and the clinical teams acting on their behalf.