POLST / MOLST

A standardized medical-order form, signed by both patient (or surrogate) and physician, that travels with the patient across care settings. More specific and more portable than a DNR alone. Different states use different names: POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), MOST, POST.

What it means in practice

POLST (and its state-by-state equivalents MOLST, MOST, POST) is the document that makes the difference between a patient's wishes being honored and a patient receiving full resuscitation against those wishes during a home crisis. Unlike an advance directive (which is a planning document), POLST is a real medical order signed by a physician — EMS, nursing homes, and ER teams are required to follow it on sight.

The form is typically bright pink or yellow (jurisdiction-dependent) so it's findable in a crisis. It addresses three or four specific decisions: CPR (yes/no), level of medical interventions (full / selective / comfort-focused), antibiotics (yes/limited/comfort), and artificially-administered nutrition (yes/trial/no). Each is a specific, actionable order — not a preference.

Not every state has POLST adopted; not every state uses the same name; not every state requires EMS to honor an out-of-state POLST. The National POLST organization maintains a registry of which states use which name and what the form looks like in each. For families with parents who travel or snowbird, signing the form for each state they're in is the cleanest play. The form is intended for patients with serious illness or frailty; healthy 65-year-olds typically wouldn't have one (an advance directive suffices).

When you'll hear it

Increasingly used for patients with advanced serious illness who want care preferences honored at home, in nursing homes, and during EMS responses (where a hospital advance directive often isn't available in time).

Is this the same as…?

Terms families frequently confuse with polst / molst.

Related terms

• Advance directive — A written document specifying a patient's wishes for end-of-life medical care — typically covering CPR, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition, and other interventions when recovery is unlikely.
• DNR — A medical order signed by a physician (not just a patient request) that CPR will not be attempted if the heart stops.
• Code status — Documented patient preferences about resuscitation efforts — typically "Full Code" (all interventions), "DNR" (no CPR but other care continues), "DNI" (no intubation), or "Comfort Care Only.
• Comfort care — A care approach focused entirely on symptom relief and dignity rather than disease treatment.
• Hospice — A type of care for people with a life expectancy of about 6 months or less, focused entirely on comfort rather than cure.
• Palliative care — Specialty care focused on quality of life and symptom relief for people with serious illness.

Where this comes up in caregiving

See also: all glossary terms · conditions by name · step-by-step playbooks