ACP-Video

What are ACP Decisions videos?

You may wonder “What are these ACP videos everyone is talking about in Hawai‘i lately?”

The short ‘ACP videos’ are intended to be a tool in conversations to help people understand the decisions they need to make when facing serious illness either for themselves or a loved one. ACP stands for Advance Care Planning.  These award winning videos have been created by Dr. Angelo Volandes and his team you can read about it at acpdecisions.org.

Three to 12 minutes in length, each video focuses on a different topic, such as:

  • Goals of Care – Advanced Cancer
  • CPR and Advanced Cancer
  • Advanced Diseases
  • Advanced Dementia

These videos are designed to be used by providers to help explain these often misunderstood concepts to their patients. These are meant to enhance and supplement one-on-one conversations with providers not replace them.

The videos have been field-tested and each topic underwent a rigorous review process by a committee of specialist in the subject and communication.  (All the studies are collected on the acpdecisions website.)  There are also translations of the General Goals of Care video into Ilocano, Tagalog, Japanese, and Mandarin.  Hawaiian, Marshallese, Chuukese and Samoan translations are in the works.

To learn more about the “ACP videos”, please visit the website acpdecisions.org.

Now to why the ACP videos are important for Hawaii:

HMSA has agreed to pay the licensing fees for the entire state for three years!!

We have a tremendous opportunity to use these videos where they are needed – hospice, hospitals, long term care, case management, doctor’s offices, health clinics, faith communities.  And they can be used for anyone, whether or not they have HMSA insurance.  (Kaiser and Castle are also using the videos in their facilities.)

We welcome your feedback, suggestions and ideas. If you would like to learn more or get involved in using the ACP videos in your work, please contact us

“A new video campaign gives patients a voice on treatment options” by Susan Essoyan was a front page article in the Star Advertiser from September 29.  This article outlines the ACP Decisions videos, which many facilities around the state are using to facilitate conversations on treatment issues.  You can read more about these short, videos from acpdecisions.org and contact Robert Eubanks at HMSA if you are interested in getting the videos for your facility.  HMSA is paying for the license for facilities across the state so there is no cost to you.

The article is available on-line (but you need to be a subscriber to get full access). Please contact us if you would like a PDF copy of the article.

Please read a recent Atlantic Monthly (April 2013) article on the videos entitled  “How Not to Die – Angelo Volandes’s low-tech, high-empathy plan to revolutionize end-of-life care”. (As long as the archive is available)