Capture and maintain patient and family preferences.

This function is focused on the capture and maintenance of facts on patient/family preferences. Patient and family preferences regarding issues such as language, religion, spiritual practices and culture may be important to the delivery of care. It is important to capture these so that they will be available to the provider at the point of care. Patient/Family preferences differ from social history and Advance Directives as follows: Social history refers primarily to elements of a patient's background that may impact on the patient's health (e.g., smoking, drinking, occupation, abuse, etc.). Advance Directives refers to requests regarding care when the patient is unable to competently make decisions about their own care (e.g., Do Not Resuscitate orders, living wills).