View clinical trials related to End of Life.
Filter by:This study take place in the palliative care units of Burgundy-Franche-Comté regions and at the Maison Médicale Jeanne Garnier. The main aim of this project is to analyze and understand the meaning of explicit requests to hasten death (euthanasia and assisted suicide). This involves conducting interviews with patients, carers to whom the request has been expressed and a relative chosen by the patient. This study aims to describe the request over time. This will be done through two series of interviews, one as soon as it is first expressed, then one week later.
The purpose of this study is to elaborate a multi-dimensional indicator of the quality in palliative care for patients of end-of-life. The study will, as secondary objectives: - elaborate in a standard manner one set of indicators of organization and inner working of a palliative care setting. - compare according to these indicators, the qualities of 3 types of palliative care: palliative care unit in hospitals, specified identified bed for palliative care patients and non-specified bed. - explore the relationship between organizational aspects and results in term of burden.
Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a process of 'reflection and communication, in which a person with decision-making capacity makes decisions regarding their future health and/or personal care in the event that they become incapable of consenting to or refusing treatment' Most Canadians have not planned for end-of-life Care and are at risk of aggressive medical care that may not be compatible with their wishes. This study aims to systematically evaluate local barriers to making personal choices with regards to life support interventions that can be provided in the contemporary Intensive Care Unit.
In the palliative care unit, certain patients suffer from pain associated with medical procedures/care which is poorly controlled by antalgics. These situations may necessitate temporary sedation to improve comfort and facilitate treatment. No proven consensus exists, either in the literature or in clinical studies conducted, on the choice of sedative agent however Midazolam is the general recommendation. The investigators believe that Propofol could be used in this instance
The purpose of this study is to determine whether end-of-life training of ICU professionals leads to improvements in ICU care process, teamwork and family satisfaction.
People with life-limiting illness often receive more aggressive healthcare than desired including costly procedures that provide little medical benefit. Advance Directives (AD) can reduce this effect but various factors limit their adoption. A randomized trial will target hospitalized patients with a serious, life limiting illness to test if the behavioral economics principles of endowment (possessing something) and focusing (featuring something important to patients) can motivate AD completion. Investigators will examine if offering patients an AD by default, in combination with framing the rationale for AD completion (emphasizing patient control or caregiver burden) improves AD completion and family conversation compared to a no-intervention group. The study hypothesis is to determine if rates of AD completion and family conversations will be highest among patients receiving the intervention focused on reduced caregiver burden; and if the two intervention groups will have higher rates of both than the control group. The investigators suspect that a small change in how patient information is framed (endowment and focusing used in tandem) will potentially leverage large increases in AD completion and that targeting HHC patients allows AD discussions early in the disease trajectory when they can participate in care decisions.
Dying patients and their families face many challenges near the end-of-life. Not only do patients often experience physical distress, but they also have feelings of loss of dignity, isolation, and uncertainty. Family members also face many challenges. They bear witness to the suffering of loved ones, and they face uncertainty, loss, and at times a mounting sense of helplessness. The purpose of this study is to introduce and evaluate a new intervention called Dignity Talk, meant to enhance end-of-life experience for both patients and their families. Dignity Talk is based on a set of questions by which terminally ill patients and their family members can engage in meaningful conversations with each other. It is intended to lessen feelings of loss and helplessness and enhance feelings of connectedness by facilitating conversations that tap into a sense of meaning and purpose, sharing of memories, wishes, hopes, and giving guidance to those who will soon be left behind. In Phase 1, 20 patients and family members will help finalize the method and Dignity Talk question framework (is it easy to understand, do the investigators have the right questions, and is the wording sensitive). In Phase 2 of the study the investigators will ask 100 patient-family pairs for feedback about Dignity Talk: what influence it had on their palliative care experience, whether it works well, and whether this intervention should become a regular part of palliative care. The investigators will also ask for feedback from health-care providers in both phases. We are requesting approval for an amendment to the healthcare provider feedback focus group questions. Will add those documents when they are approved. Four to six months after the death of their loved one, the investigators will contact the family member to ask their thoughts about Dignity Talk, how it shaped their experience of their grief and bereavement. The investigators expect that the study will show that Dignity Talk can be an effective, highly accessible palliative care intervention, which will enhance the end-of-life experience for palliative patients and the families who support them.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of implementing a "Serious Illness Conversation Guide" to guide patient/family-clinician discussions and planning about end-of-life care decisions. The goal of the intervention is to improve achievement of patient care priorities and peacefulness at the end of life for patients with serious and life-threatening illness and their families. We hypothesize that patients whose physician is trained to use and adheres to the elements of the Serious Illness Conversation Guide will demonstrate enhanced consistency between documented key priorities and care received, and will experience greater peace in the final month of life; similarly, their families will experience higher satisfaction with care.
This is a before-after phase II study, according to the Medical Research Council framework, investigating the feasibility of introducing the Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying patient (LCP) in 5 Ligurian hospices.
Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying patient (LCP) was developed to transfer the care practice from the hospice setting to the hospital setting in UK. LCP is a pathway with standardized registration method to monitor the care and its results. The primary aim is to study the effects of LCP on dying patients symptom burden and communication with close relatives and health care professionals.