CompletedNot Applicable

A Needs-focused Palliative Care Intervention for Older Adults in ICUs

United States151 participantsStarted 2021-02-22

Plain-language summary

The quality of intensive care unit (ICU)-based palliative care is highly variable, particularly for the 2 million older adults admitted annually to ICUs. To address these care delivery barriers among older ICU patients, a mobile app platform called PCplanner (Palliative Care planner) was developed. PCplanner automates the identification of high-risk patients (e.g., dementia, declining health status, poor functioning) by directly capturing data from electronic health record (EHR) systems, cultivates family engagement with supportive information and a digital system for self-report of actual needs, and facilitates the delivery of care to those with a high burden of need by coordinating collaboration between ICU teams and palliative care specialists. 150 patients, 150 family caregivers, and 75 physicians from academic and community settings will be enrolled in a RCT designed to test the efficacy of PCplanner-augmented collaborative palliative care vs usual care. Family caregiver and clinician experiences will be explored using mixed methods to understand intervention mechanisms as well as implementation barriers within diverse case contexts. The key hypothesis is that compared to usual care, PCplanner will reduce family caregivers' unmet needs and psychological distress, increase the frequency of goal concordant treatment among older adult patients, and reduce hospital length of stay.

Who can participate

Age range50 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.

PATIENTS Inclusion Criteria: * ≥50 years of age * Receive care in a study ICU for ≥24 hours * Meets ≥1 of 9 high risk phenotypes a. Dementia (e.g., Alzheimer's, multi-infarct, other dementia etiology) b. Declining health status defined by EITHER: i. ≥2 hospital admissions in 3 months preceding current admission OR ii. \>1 ICU admission in 3 months preceding current admission c. Poor functional status defined by EITHER: i. admit from Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) or Long-Term Acute Care (LTAC) facility OR ii. ≥3 activities of daily living (ADL) limitations at admission d. Severe acute illness defined by EITHER: i. cardiac arrest OR ii. multisystem organ failure (≥3 of: lung, kidney, hematological, brain, cardiac, liver) that has worsened over 48 hours (i.e., Sequential Organ Failure Assessment \[SOFA\] score increase) e. Severe acute stroke (e.g., acute intracranial hemorrhage, ischemic stroke, or traumatic brain injury) f. Acute respiratory failure (ventilation or high oxygen support for ≥24 hours) g. Acute renal failure (new hemodialysis or continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration for ≥1 hour) h. Advanced cancer (Advanced / metastatic cancer diagnosis) i. Shock (use of vasopressor or inotrope for ≥4 hours) Exclusion Criteria (pre-consent): * Palliative care consultation performed during the hospitalization before eligibility determination * Current admission to ICU at the index hospital ≥8 days * Imprisoned * No known family or surrogate decision maker * Death expected w…

What they're measuring

Needs; Existential Concerns; Symptoms; and Therapeutic Interaction (NEST) Scale Total Score

Timeframe: Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (~3 days post-randomization), and Time 3 (~1 week post-randomization)

Trial details

NCT IDNCT04414787

SponsorDuke University

Sponsor typeOTHER

Study typeINTERVENTIONAL

Primary completion2023-09-26

Results submitted2024-08-30