Clinical trial NCT01844492: Improving Patient and Family Centered Care in Advanced Critical Illness
Official title: Improving Patient and Family Centered Care in Advanced Critical Illness
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Anxiety
Depression
Keywords: decision making for incapacitated patients
intensive care
surrogate decision making
patient centered care
Palliative Care
End of Life
Quality of Communication
Lead sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2013-05-01
Enrollment: 1420
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Intervention model description: Sample size listed is for patients (n=1420), for whom 809 surrogates completed long-term follow-up
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: One in five deaths in the U.S. occurs in or shortly after discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU), typically following decisions made by surrogate decision makers to forego life prolonging treatment. A large body of empirical research has identified deficiencies in care processes that contribute to three important problems: 1) family members often experience poor quality communication with ICU clinicians, leading to lasting psychological distress associated with the ICU experience; 2) patients near the end of life frequently receive invasive, expensive treatment that is inconsistent with their values and preferences, and 3) end-of-life care is a major contributor to health care costs.\[8, 9\] Although advance care planning can prevent some unwanted treatment, many patients wish for a trial of intensive treatment when the prognosis is uncertain, and therefore it seems likely that the need for interventions to improve "in-the-moment" decisions by surrogates will persist.\[10, 11\]

In a pilot project, the investigators developed the PARTNER intervention (PAiring Re-engineered ICU Teams with Nurse-driven Emotional Support and Relationship-building), an interdisciplinary intervention that 1) gives new responsibilities and advanced communication skills training to existing ICU staff (local nurse leaders and social work members of the ICU team); 2) changes care "defaults" to ensure frequent clinician-family meetings; and 3) adds protocolized, nurse-administered coaching and emotional support of surrogates before and during clinician-family meetings. The objective of this proposal is to conduct a stepped wedge randomized controlled trial testing the PARTNER intervention in 5 ICUs among 1000 patients with advanced critical illness and their surrogates.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years of age or older
* Surrogate decision maker for ICU patient in one of 5 UPMC ICU's

Exclusion Criteria:

* Non-English Speaking
* Surrogate's loved one is for organ transplantation
* Not physically able to participate in family meeting

Primary outcomes:
measure: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
timeFrame: At 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Quality of Communication (QOC) scale
timeFrame: At 6 months
measure: Patient-and Family Centeredness of Care Scale
timeFrame: At 6 months
measure: Intensive Care Unit Length of Stay
timeFrame: Participants will be followed for duration of ICU stay, an expected average of 21 days.
measure: Total Hospitalization costs
timeFrame: Duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 4 weeks
measure: Impact of Events Scale of Care Scale
timeFrame: At 6 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Mortality
timeFrame: At 6 months
measure: Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale
timeFrame: At 6 months
measure: Hospital Length of Stay
timeFrame: Participants will be followed for duration of hosptial stay, an expected average of 4 weeks.
measure: 6-month health care utilization
timeFrame: inclusive of index hospitalization and 6 months follow up
Locations:
city: Pittsburgh
country: United States
facility: University of Pittsburgh Medical Centers
state: Pennsylvania
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Pittsburgh
name: Douglas B. White, MD,MAS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Angus DC, Barnato AE, Linde-Zwirble WT, Weissfeld LA, Watson RS, Rickert T, Rubenfeld GD; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ICU End-Of-Life Peer Group. Use of intensive care at the end of life in the United States: an epidemiologic study. Crit Care Med. 2004 Mar;32(3):638-43. doi: 10.1097/01.ccm.0000114816.62331.08.
citation: Prendergast TJ, Claessens MT, Luce JM. A national survey of end-of-life care for critically ill patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1998 Oct;158(4):1163-7. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.158.4.9801108.
citation: Azoulay E, Pochard F, Kentish-Barnes N, Chevret S, Aboab J, Adrie C, Annane D, Bleichner G, Bollaert PE, Darmon M, Fassier T, Galliot R, Garrouste-Orgeas M, Goulenok C, Goldgran-Toledano D, Hayon J, Jourdain M, Kaidomar M, Laplace C, Larche J, Liotier J, Papazian L, Poisson C, Reignier J, Saidi F, Schlemmer B; FAMIREA Study Group. Risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms in family members of intensive care unit patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005 May 1;171(9):987-94. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200409-1295OC. Epub 2005 Jan 21.
citation: Wendler D, Rid A. Systematic review: the effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for others. Ann Intern Med. 2011 Mar 1;154(5):336-46. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-154-5-201103010-00008.
citation: Lynn J, Teno JM, Phillips RS, Wu AW, Desbiens N, Harrold J, Claessens MT, Wenger N, Kreling B, Connors AF Jr. Perceptions by family members of the dying experience of older and seriously ill patients. SUPPORT Investigators. Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments. Ann Intern Med. 1997 Jan 15;126(2):97-106. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-126-2-199701150-00001.
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citation: Fried TR, Bradley EH, Towle VR, Allore H. Understanding the treatment preferences of seriously ill patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Apr 4;346(14):1061-6. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa012528.
citation: Sudore RL, Fried TR. Redefining the "planning" in advance care planning: preparing for end-of-life decision making. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Aug 17;153(4):256-61. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-153-4-201008170-00008.
citation: Schneiderman LJ, Gilmer T, Teetzel HD, Dugan DO, Blustein J, Cranford R, Briggs KB, Komatsu GI, Goodman-Crews P, Cohn F, Young EW. Effect of ethics consultations on nonbeneficial life-sustaining treatments in the intensive care setting: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2003 Sep 3;290(9):1166-72. doi: 10.1001/jama.290.9.1166.
citation: Lautrette A, Darmon M, Megarbane B, Joly LM, Chevret S, Adrie C, Barnoud D, Bleichner G, Bruel C, Choukroun G, Curtis JR, Fieux F, Galliot R, Garrouste-Orgeas M, Georges H, Goldgran-Toledano D, Jourdain M, Loubert G, Reignier J, Saidi F, Souweine B, Vincent F, Barnes NK, Pochard F, Schlemmer B, Azoulay E. A communication strategy and brochure for relatives of patients dying in the ICU. N Engl J Med. 2007 Feb 1;356(5):469-78. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa063446.
citation: White DB, Angus DC, Shields AM, Buddadhumaruk P, Pidro C, Paner C, Chaitin E, Chang CH, Pike F, Weissfeld L, Kahn JM, Darby JM, Kowinsky A, Martin S, Arnold RM; PARTNER Investigators. A Randomized Trial of a Family-Support Intervention in Intensive Care Units. N Engl J Med. 2018 Jun 21;378(25):2365-2375. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1802637. Epub 2018 May 23.