Development and implementation of an advance care planning program in Catalonia, Spain

Objective Implementation of an advance care planning (ACP) program for people with advanced chronic conditions is a complex process. The aims of this paper are to describe (1) the development of the ACP program in Catalonia, Spain, for patients with advanced chronic conditions and complex needs and (2) the preliminary results of the implementation of this program in health and social services. Method The ACP program was developed and implemented in a four-stage process as follows: (1) design and organization of the project; (2) selection of the professionals to carry out the project; (3) creation of four working groups to develop the conceptual model, guidelines, training program, and perform a qualitative evaluation; and (4) project implementation. Result The following deliverables were completed: (1) conceptual framework document; (2) practical guidelines for the application of the ACP; (3) online training course (3,763 healthcare professionals completed the online course, with an overall satisfaction rating of 8.4 on a 10-point scale); and (4) additional training activities (conferences, short courses, and seminars) in between 2015 and 2017.