Complementary Therapies in Palliative Care

Health Care Provider Education Clinical Trial

— CTPC  

Official title:

Palliative Care Provider Online Education in Evidence-Based Complementary Therapies

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02644356
• Other study ID #: R43CA157005
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• First received: December 12, 2015
• Last updated: December 29, 2015
• Start date: July 2011
• Est. completion date: December 2013

Study information

• Verified date: December 2015
• Source: Collinge and Associates, Inc.
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Palliative care represents one of the most rapidly expanding sectors of health care. Its rapid growth has been accompanied by widespread needs for training of multidisciplinary personnel to work with the unique set of health issues specific to its population of patients - not only those at end-of-life, but also patients with long-term, incurable, chronic and degenerative illnesses. This project will develop the first online continuing education program for palliative care personnel in the evidence-based application of complementary therapies, to enhance patient care and quality of life in the palliative care setting.

Description:

Palliative care represents one of the most rapidly expanding sectors of health care. Its rapid growth has been accompanied by widespread needs for training of multidisciplinary personnel to work with the unique set of health issues specific to its population of patients - not only those at end-of-life, but also patients with long-term, incurable, chronic and degenerative illnesses. Selected complementary therapies offer significant benefits for reducing suffering and improving quality of life in palliative care patients; however, there currently are no systematic educational offerings on the evidence-based application of such therapies in the palliative care setting. This project will develop the first online continuing education program for palliative care personnel in the evidence-based application of complementary therapies in the palliative care setting. The final product will consist of an interactive course with eight modules; Phase I will develop the web infrastructure for the course, and will then pilot test two modules to establish feasibility of the concept. The specific aims are as follows: Aim 1. Build a website capable of delivering an online interactive educational curriculum. Aim 2. Conduct evidence-based reviews of the literature on the application of complementary therapies to pain and dyspnea in palliative care settings. Aim 3. Incorporate the course content into a structure and form that can be effectively delivered over the website. Aim 4. Conduct peer review evaluation of content to determine fidelity of course content with available evidence. Aim 5. Recruit a multidisciplinary sample of health care personnel practicing in the field of palliative care. Aim 6. Conduct pilot testing of two modules of the program. Aim 7. Evaluate {attitudinal and} learning outcomes and user satisfaction feedback to determine feasibility of the approach. Feasibility of the approach will be determined by success in recruitment, compliance, evidence of meeting user learning objectives, and user satisfaction data. The final product to be developed is an eight-module online educational course for multidisciplinary health professionals in the evidence-based application of complementary therapies in palliative care. Commercial application will be as a continuing education program that is licensed to institutions (care facilities, hospitals, universities, colleges) as well as purchased by individual users (fee-based), with discipline-specific continuing education credits available, all administered over the internet. Impact and Innovation: This will be the first online educational program for palliative care personnel on this topic available in the US. The course will spearhead the expansion of the existing paradigm of palliative care to incorporate evidence-based integration of complementary therapies. Technological innovation includes the employment of fluid updating of content to licensees, which is a new development in online education and particularly important given the rapid rate of emergence of new data. Public health benefit: The course will aid in the improvement of quality of palliative care, benefitting potentially millions of recipients in the most rapidly expanding sector of the health care system.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 51
• Est. completion date: December 2013
• Est. primary completion date: December 2013
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Physicians (MD, DO), physician assistant (PA), nurse practitioner (NP), registered nurse (RN), licensed practical nurse (LPN), social worker (BA/BS/BSW, MSW, PhD/DSW), psychologist (MS/MA, PhD/PsyD), counselor (MS/MA),administrator, and chaplain.

• Must be currently active within palliative care settings.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Professionals not actively working in palliative care settings

Study Design

Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment, Masking: Open Label

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Care Provider Education

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Online CE/CME course
Educational modules of a proposed online CE/CME course, module topics consisting of acupuncture, massage, and music-related interventions

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Collinge and Associates, Inc.	Kozak & Associates, LLC

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Investigator-generated test of course content	Change in knowledge about theory, mechanisms of action, delivery, indications for use, evidence of efficacy	Baseline, 30 days	No
Secondary	Investigator-generated scale of confidence in understanding modality safety considerations	Change in confidence in understanding the modality's safety considerations in PC	Baseline, 30 days	No
Secondary	Investigator-generated scale of confidence in making evidence-based recommendations about the modality	Change in confidence in making evidence-based recommendations for the modality in PC planning	Baseline, 30 days	No
Secondary	Investigator-generated scale of confidence in communicating about the modality	Change in confidence in ability to explain use of the modality to patients, families and colleagues in PC contexts	Baseline, 30 days	No
Secondary	Investigator-generated scale of perceived course relevance	User perceived importance and relevance of course content, and potential to improve patient care	30 days	Yes

External Links

•   Collinge and Associates, Inc. website information page about the project
•   Website used during the study for feasablity testing