1. The POST form shall be a uniform form based upon the national physician orders for life-sustaining treatment paradigm form. The form shall have all of the following characteristics:

 a. The form shall include the patient‘s name and date of birth.
 b. The form shall be signed and dated by the patient or the patient’s legal representative.
 c. The form shall be signed and dated by the patient’s physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner, or physician assistant.
 d. If preparation of the form was facilitated by an individual other than the patient’s physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, the facilitator shall also sign and date the form.
 e. The form shall include the patient’s wishes regarding the care of the patient, including but not limited to all of the following:

 (1) The administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
 (2) The level of medical interventions in the event of a medical emergency.
 (3) The use of medically administered nutrition by tube.
 f. The form shall be easily distinguishable to facilitate recognition by health care providers, hospitals, and health care facilities.
 g. An incomplete section on the form shall imply the patient’s wishes for full treatment for the type of treatment addressed in that section.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 144D.2

  • Advanced registered nurse practitioner: means an advanced registered nurse practitioner licensed pursuant to chapter 152 or 152E. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • Department: means the department of public health. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Internet: means the federated international system that is composed of allied electronic communication networks linked by telecommunication channels, that uses standardized protocols, and that facilitates electronic communication services, including but not limited to use of the world wide web; the transmission of electronic mail or messages; the transfer of files and data or other electronic information; and the transmission of voice, image, and video. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Legal representative: means an individual authorized to execute a POST form on behalf of a patient who is not competent to do so, in the order of priority set out in section 144A. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • Patient: means an individual who is frail and elderly or who has a chronic, critical medical condition or a terminal illness and for which a physician orders for scope of treatment form is consistent with the individual's goals of care. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • Physician assistant: means a person licensed as a physician assistant under chapter 148C. See Iowa Code 144D.1
  • POST form: means a document containing medical orders which may be relied upon across medical settings that consolidates and summarizes a patient's preferences for life-sustaining treatments and interventions and acts as a complement to and does not supersede any valid advance directive. See Iowa Code 144D.1
 2. The department shall prescribe the uniform POST form and shall post the form on the department’s internet site for public availability.
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