One of the most important obstacles to improving end-of-life care is the inability of clinicians to reliably identify those who are approaching the end-of-life. Every aspect of a palliative approach to care - screening for unmet needs, treating symptoms, discussing goals of care, and developing a palliative management plan - depends on the reliable and accurate identification of patients with palliative needs. The investigators developed an accurate and reliable mortality prediction tool that automatically identifies patients in hospital at elevated risk of death in the coming year. In previous studies it has been shown that these patients also frequently have unmet palliative care needs at the time they are identified by the tool. This tool has been demonstrated feasible, acceptable to patients and providers, and effective for changing physician behaviour in an inpatient clinical context. In this project, this tool is implemented as part of an integrated knowledge translation project to facilitate reliable and timely identification of unmet palliative needs across multiple hospitals with different clinical settings and contexts. The investigators have partnered with 12 hospitals to improve the quality of palliative and end-of-life care provided to patients and families. With each partner site the investigators will develop a comprehensive implementation plan, including stakeholder engagement, education, and feedback. Process measures will be collected at each site to determine whether the tool was effective for promoting the identification and documentation of unmet palliative needs. Patients who were identified by the tool will also be followed over time to collect outcome and impact measures to see if their end-of-life care was affected by the intervention compared to control groups.
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AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Bring these to your next appointment. They're a starting point for a shared conversation — not a sign you qualify or a recommendation to enrol.
Generated to help you prepare — always confirm anything about your own eligibility and care with the study team and your doctor.
The trial coordinator is the person who runs the study day to day. These cover the practical side — logistics, costs, and what taking part would actually mean for your life. The study team confirms whether you meet the criteria; these are questions to ask, not a sign you qualify.
A starting point for the conversation — always confirm anything about your own eligibility, costs, and care with the study team and your doctor.
Identification and documentation of unmet palliative needs
Timeframe: Through study completion, up to 9 months
Identification and documentation of unmet palliative needs
Timeframe: Through study completion, up to 9 months