An Educational Intervention to Improve Resident Comfort With Communication at the End of Life

End of Life Communication Clinical Trial

Official title:

An Educational Intervention to Improve Resident Comfort With Communication at the End of Life

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01150968
• Other study ID #: 10035736
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: June 24, 2010
• Last updated: February 9, 2011
• Start date: March 2010
• Est. completion date: June 2010

Study information

• Verified date: February 2011
• Source: University of California, San Francisco
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the addition of teaching on communication at the end of life to the pre-existing resident curriculum will positively impact residents' knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life.

Description:

Previous research has demonstrated a lack of resident training in communication at the end of life. This can lead to anxiety on the part of residents and poor experiences with these conversations. Residents at UCSF, and affiliated sites, participate in a daily formal teaching session from 12-1 pm and an informal case conference, known as Morning Report, from 7:30-8:30 am (8-9 am at VAMC). We propose to administer a pre-intervention survey to residents to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding communication at the end of life. Over two months, residents will receive one lecture during the noon session. Clinical cases will be presented for discussion during three sessions of morning report. All sessions are voluntary and take place at all three training sites, UCSF, SFGH, and the VAMC. As residents rotate every two months between the inpatient and outpatient settings, the intervention will be repeated once to ensure that the majority of residents have the opportunity to participate. A post-intervention survey, identical to the pre-intervention survey, will be administered to assess for impact of the educational intervention. This project only involves UCSF Internal Medicine residents. No patients will be involved in this study.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 166
• Est. completion date: June 2010
• Est. primary completion date: June 2010
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• UCSF internal medicine resident

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not UCSF internal medicine resident

Study Design

Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment, Masking: Open Label

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• End of Life Communication

Intervention

Behavioral:
• End of life education
Residents will participate in one hour, case-based, interactive teaching sessions on end of life communication.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UCSF Program in Medical Ethics	San Francisco	California

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of California, San Francisco

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Self-efficacy	Residents participating in the intervention will demonstrate increased self-efficacy for end of life conversations.	90 days	No