TerminatedNot Applicable

Symptom Screening With Targeted Early Palliative Care (STEP) Versus Usual Care for Patients With Advanced Cancer

Stopped: COVID-19 pandemic

Canada69 participantsStarted 2019-08-08

Plain-language summary

Palliative care is defined as multidisciplinary care that increases quality of life (QOL) for patients with a life-threatening illness. Although it is known that patients with the most severe physical and psychological symptoms have the greatest need for palliative care, these patients are often not referred to palliative care services in a timely manner. The investigators have developed a system called STEP (Symptom screening with Targeted Early Palliative care) that identifies patients with high symptom burden in order to offer them timely access to palliative care. The investigators are conducting a multi-center trial at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Kingston General Hospital to compare STEP with usual symptom screening in medical oncology clinics.

Who can participate

Age range18 Years

SexALL

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AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.

Inclusion Criteria: * Age ≥ 18 years * Diagnosis of stage IV cancer (advanced); hormone-refractory for breast or prostate cancer; stage III or IV for lung cancer and pancreatic cancer; patients with stage III cancer and poor clinical prognosis, e.g. ovarian or esophageal cancer, will be included at the discretion of the oncologist * ECOG performance status ≤ 2 (estimated by primary oncologist) * Prognosis of 6-36 months (estimated by primary oncologist) * Patient completes symptom screening in outpatient clinic electronically Exclusion Criteria: * Insufficient English literacy to complete questionnaires * Inability of pass the cognitive screening test (SOMC - Short Orientation Memory Concentration test score \<20 or \>10 errors) * Receiving specialized palliative care within the last 6 months prior to screening, per chart and patient statement.

What they're measuring

Patient Heath Related Quality of Life (HRQL) as measured by the FACT-G7.

Timeframe: 6 months after enrollment.

Trial details

NCT IDNCT03987906

SponsorUniversity Health Network, Toronto

Sponsor typeOTHER

Study typeINTERVENTIONAL

Primary completion2020-09-30