Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Elderly Cardiac Surgery Patients

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This is a prospective epidemiological pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of recruiting and retaining patients in a large multicenter study that will audit Advanced Care Planning (ACP) practices and satisfaction with End Of Life (EOL) communication and decision-making in patients undergoing cardiac surgery using the current validated questionnaires and methodology.

Detailed Description
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Study Procedures: Once patients have signed an informed consent they will be asked to complete the ACP evaluation questionnaire. Their level of frailty will be assessed with the 5-meter walk test. Two weeks after discharge (+ or - 7 days) they will be contacted by phone in order to complete 3 sections of the CANHELP questionnaire. Study Tools Patient questionnaires: ACP Evaluation questionnaire: 5 questions about advance care planning on admission to hospital from CANHELP study (time predicted 10 minutes) CANHELP questionnaire (sections relationship with doctors, communication and decision making) 2 weeks after discharge (time predicted 25 minutes) Patient test: 5-minute gait speed Patient Assessment Data Standard Demographics Anthropometric data Cardiac variables Comorbidities Lab Values Frailty (assessed using 5-meter gait speed) Post-surgical outcome data (will be sought in the chart after 30 days post-surgery) Outcome Complications

Official Title
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A Feasibility Study on: Advance Care Planning (ACP) in Elderly Cardiac Surgery Patients

Conditions
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Advanced Care Planning

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Age and over 70 years Admitted for cardiac surgery; Able to speak English or French; Exclusion Criteria: Age under 70 years; Unable to participate in the follow-up telephone survey; Unable to speak English or French.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 70 Years
Maximum Age: 95 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Successful study completion | To estimate the proportion of patients who successfully completed all the study tasks; | 1 month | 
| Time frame | To evaluate the time frame required to enroll and complete the study for 35 patients; | 1 month | 
| Gait test | To evaluate the length of time required perform the gait test (in minutes); | 1 month | 
| patient retention | To evaluate patient retention (percent of patients who complete the study); | 1 month | 
| Screen failure rate | To evaluate the screen failure rate | 1 month | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overall satisfaction | To assess the patient's overall satisfaction with goals of care communication (question 1 of CANHELP questionnaire; (5 point Likert scale)); | 1 month | 
| Prevalence of ACP | To determine, from the perspective of the acutely ill patient, the prevalence of Advanced Care Planning (ACP) directives; | 1 month | 
| Percentage of frail patients | To evaluate proportion of patients evaluated as frail using the 5-meter walk test; | 1 month | 
| Level of correlation between level of frailty and satisfaction with decision making. | To evaluate the level of correlation between satisfaction with decision making and level of frailty. | 1 month |