Conhecimento dos profissionais de saúde sobre as diretivas antecipadas de vontade

Introduction: Each person is free to decide on the care they want or not to receive. however, when the patient cannot express his or her manifest this will, he or she may resort to instructions given previously called Advance Directives. Aim: To analyze the knowledge of healthcare professionals regarding the Advance Directives. Materials and Methods: Descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study with a quantitative. There will be no sampling. The sample will coincide with the population (health professionals working in Portugal registered with the Portuguese Nurses, Doctors and Psychologists Order or Associations of Social Work Professionals) that accepts to answer the questionnaire that will be disseminated electronically by the Professional Orders/ Associations. Results: Most of our sample are female, registered nurses, and graduates. In general, participants have adequate knowledge of the definition, legal aspects documents required, and application of the Advance Directives. Conclusion: There was a general knowledge about the Advance Directives, there is little knowledge about Law No. 25/2012 of July 16, namely the term “therapeutic effort limitation” and the place where are registered the Advance Directives and who can access them. It will be important in the future to invest in the knowledge of health professionals.