View clinical trials related to Palliative Care.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect and cost of technology-enhanced transitional palliative care on family caregivers who provide care to a loved one after a hospitalization.
The investigators propose to study the feasibility, acceptability, usability and outcomes of a new clinical decision support system for clinicians of opioid therapy in the context of specialist palliative care for serious chronic illness. The system provides clinicians with patient-specific genetic information on opioid responsiveness and multi-drug interactions. This clinical decision support system should improve the clinician's ability to identify the optimal pain medication and dosage, and reduce risks associated with multi-drug treatment. Investigators will conduct clinician survey's to collection information about the clinical decision support system. Investigators will also conduct patient related questionnaires to determine any benefits or improvements in quality of life and symptom management from the clinical decision support system.
The study compares early palliative care consultation to standard of care in the medical intensive care unit (ICU). The study will assess if the intervention leads to an increased proportion of clearly delineated goals of care and examine if this intervention leads to decreased healthcare resource utilization such as length of stay, duration of intensive treatments including mechanical ventilation, and hospital re-admissions.
The MEANING trial is a randomized controlled mixed methods pilot designed to compare a novel mindfulness meditation-based intervention (MEANING) to usual care for adults with advanced-stage solid malignancies and their family caregivers.
The study wants to define the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), safety and efficacy of a short course radiation treatment in patients with symptomatic advanced head and neck cancer.
Palliative care is a priority area of focus for the National Institute of Nursing Research. Despite the evidence-based benefits of palliative care, access remains limited, especially in poor urban and rural settings. Cultural and linguistic barriers may also increase disparities in palliative care for Latinos. Due to a nationwide shortage of palliative care providers and the unique cultural preferences and values of patients, our innovative study has the potential to improve palliative care outcomes and reduce health disparities in both urban and rural underserved communities.
The proposed study is an important, under-investigated area of ICU care for terminally ill patients undergoing terminal ventilator withdrawal. The proposed research has relevance to public health because an algorithmic approach to the ventilator withdrawal process will enhance clinicians' ability to conduct the process while assuring patient comfort, using opioids and/or benzodiazepines effectively.
The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate a family-centered intervention (the Family Talk Intervention, by W. Beardslee) in families where a parent of children aged 6-19 years is seriously ill and cared for in specialized homecare. The aims of the intervention are to increase family communication, the families' awareness of the impending death and their knowledge about the cancer illness, and thereby reduce the family members' long-term psychological distress.
Older adults living with incurable and advancing life-limiting illness frequently desire to spend as much time as possible comfortably at home, rather than in hospital. They often have complex problems that not only affect their ability to function, but also their and their family caregivers' overall quality of life (QOL). Routine assessment of their perceived health care needs and their self-reported QOL is necessary to ensure that patients' and family caregivers' concerns are visible to home care clinicians so that they can be effectively monitored and addressed. These types of assessments involve asking people to respond to questions about their symptoms, their physical, psychological, social and existential/spiritual wellbeing, and their experiences with health care. Electronic information systems are increasingly used and recommended to facilitate such QOL assessments. However, there is a need for information about how such systems are best translated into practice improvements that ultimately may improve patient- and family-centred outcomes. This study is about the implementation of an innovative, electronic health care information and practice support system, the Quality of life Assessment and Practice Support System (QPSS), into routine care provided by home care services for older adults with life-limiting illnesses and their family caregivers. Eight home care sites in Canada are participating. At each site the investigators will first adapt the QPSS to the local context and develop a plan for its local implementation. Then home care staff will be asked to use it in practice and the investigators will evaluate the process of using the QPSS and its effect on patient and family caregiver quality of life, health, and satisfaction with care as well as the cost consequences of its integration into practice. The effect of its use will be studied in a randomized trial, which is the part of the study described in this registry. Patients and their family caregivers will be randomly assigned to 1) have their home care team use the QPSS in their care or 2) not to use it, instead receiving care as usual. The effect of using the QPSS will be measured using questionnaires completed by the participating patients and family caregivers every two months. If using the QPSS improves quality of life, health, or satisfaction with care, the last stage will explore how to scale up use of the QPSS in practice and its integration with existing health information systems.
The purpose of this retrospective chart review pilot study is to research the results and scores of the QOL questionnaire implemented across Allina Health clinics. This study will investigate average QOL scores by clinical population and demographic group, the change in scores over time, and the effect of clinical interventions on QOL scores. The results will provide insight into QOL trends within different patient populations and provide guidance regarding optimal treatment plans so that Allina caregivers can positively impact patients' QOL.