Clinical trial NCT05883696: Palliative Care Needs Among Elderly People at Emergency Department
Official title: Palliative Care Needs Among Elderly People at Emergency Department
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Palliative Medicine
Palliative Care
Elderly Person
Keywords: Elderly
palliative care needs
Emergency department
Swedish Palliative Care Guide
Lead sponsor: Region Skane
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-06-01
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 75
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients admitted to emergency department in HBG Sweden, aged 75 and above and classified as triage 2-4, without cognitive dysfunction.

Brief summary: Aim: To assess what proportion of all patients over the age of 75 who seek care at the emergency department have palliative care needs and whether these are documented in the patient's medical record.

Data collection and analysis: Patients over 75 years of age who seek care in an emergency department and are classified as triage 2-4 during initial triage are assessed by a researcher. Patients with dementia or other cognitive dysfunction will be excluded. Two types of data collection are included 1) Swedish Palliative care guide (S-PCG) documents that the researcher fills in together with the patient, 2) data from the patient's medical record, this data is collected according to a special assessment template. Data from the medical record will be collected after the patient left the emergency department.

Data collection is ongoing until 300 patients have been included in the study. Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Implications: The percentage of previously undetected/documented palliative care needs in emergency departments is relevant for prioritizing general palliative care within e.g. housing for the elderly and primary care S-PCG can be relevant to increase the level of knowledge at these care facilities. If it turns out that many patients have palliative care needs that are not met in the emergency department, health care structures need to ensure that these patients receive help at the right level of care. This would likely mean that the number of emergency visits and hospital admissions (with suffering and reduced quality of life as a result) can be reduced.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Classified as triage 2-4

Exclusion Criteria:

* Dementia or other cognitive dysfunction
* Not being able to communicate in Swedish.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Palliative care needs
timeFrame: The study will be ongoing fo up to at year. The S-PCG will be used at 1 time for each included patient.
measure: Palliative care needs documented in medical records.
timeFrame: The study will be ongoing fo up to at year. The S-PCG will be used at 1 time for each included patient
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Helsingborg
country: Sweden
facility: Region Skane
state: Skane
Study officials:
affiliation: Region Skåne
name: Maria Schelin, ass. prof.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: