End of Life Care | Advance care planning | ACP and different illness trajectories

ACP and different illness trajectories
Session overview
Description
This session provides an overview of the concept of illness trajectories and its influence on the advance care planning (ACP) process in end of life care.

This session was reviewed by Fiona Rawlinson and Sarah Hanrott and last updated in February 2023.

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• describe the illness trajectories of common end of life care conditions
• recognise factors that influence the pathway of an illness trajectory
• analyse the different trajectory types and describe the limitations of the trajectory approach
• discuss the implication of illness trajectories on the ACP process

It is helpful to have an awareness of trajectories to help understand the illness experience of an individual in the last years of their life.

There is increasing evidence that recognising the physical, emotional, social and spiritual illness trajectory can aid person centred advance care planning by helping to focus on what matters to that individual.

This session focuses on the physical illness trajectories of cancer and non-cancer conditions. This is a trajectory of functional level or abilities over time.