Advance care planning (ACP) and related medical treatment legislation enable individuals to maintain choice and control over their health-care decisions in the event they lose decision-making capacity in the future.The ultimate goal of ACP is that people receive medical care that is consistent with their preferences.

This study provides new evidence regarding organisational and advance care planning program characteristics associated with the prevalence of one or more advance care directives at the point-of-care for older Australians in health and residential aged care services.

This study identifies a number of important findings relating to advance care planning document uptake relevant to policymakers, health and residential aged care service providers and workforce, palliative care services, researchers, and the general public.

This study uncovers the complexity and difficulty experienced by doctors when enacting Advance Care Directives (ACDs) and the deep conflict in weighing up whether to follow a patient directive.

This study aims to determine the prevalence of ACDs in records of older people in Australian hospitals, aged care facilities and general practices.