Respecting Patient Choices® for Professionals

With funding from the National Institute of Clinical Studies, Respecting Patient Choices® was first introduced as a pilot program at the Austin Hospital, in Melbourne, during 2002-03.

The success of the pilot prompted the Victorian and Federal Government’s (Department of Human Services and Department of Health and Ageing respectively) to support the programs introduction to other health services in Victoria and interstate

The RPC Program provides a quality-assured system of discussing, recording and documenting a patient’s preferences for their future healthcare, in preparation for a time when they might not be able to competently contribute to their end-of-life decisions. It is frequently (but not always) about end-of-life medical treatment.

The guiding principle of the RPC Program is:

“If your choices for future healthcare are known, they can be respected”.

Training in the RPC Program enables doctors, nurses and allied health workers to discuss advance care planning helpfully and sensitively with patients and their families.