Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT04916223 |
Other study ID # |
2017-260 |
Secondary ID |
|
Status |
Completed |
Phase |
N/A
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
November 1, 2017 |
Est. completion date |
March 26, 2019 |
Study information
Verified date |
December 2022 |
Source |
Medstar Health Research Institute |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Therapeutic massage is the most common non-traditional treatment option offered to improve
quality of life, provide comfort and decrease pain in hospice and palliative care settings
outside the hospital. Three systematic reviews of data in general pain, surgical and cancer
populations found massage to be effective for treating pain versus active comparators.
Given the remarkable negative impact on QOL experienced by patients hospitalized with a
serious progressive illness, a nationwide opioid crisis in the setting of public concern for
untreated pain, and patient demand for integrative therapies, we wish to investigate
non-traditional methods of supporting patients in pain and providing clinicians with viable
alternatives. Unfortunately, very little is known about optimal delivery of massage
interventions in the hospital setting, including dosing parameters such as time and frequency
We conducted a single center comparative effectiveness study to evaluate therapeutic massage
"dosing" to improve self-reported quality-of-life in hospitalized patients receiving
palliative care consultation.
Description:
Palliative care (PC) provides expert symptom management and communication skills for patients
and families facing serious life-limiting illness in the hospital. Many such patients
experience lower quality of life (QOL) due to moderate-severe pain or other symptoms and
require strong pharmacotherapies - often controlled substances such as opioids or
benzodiazepines - to alleviate associated distress. A major tenet of quality supportive care
is the combination of many types of therapy, both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic.
Patients with serious life-limiting illnesses often rely on the use of nonpharmacologic
therapies to manage pain or other symptoms at home. However, implementing complementary
therapies in the hospital setting can be challenging and thus they are rarely available for
hospitalized patients with serious illness. Patients often request non-drug options, but
medications remain the mainstay of treating pain while hospitalized.
Therapeutic massage is the most common non-traditional treatment option offered to improve
quality of life, provide comfort and decrease pain in hospice and palliative care settings
outside the hospital. Nevertheless, there remains limited data describing the impact of
therapeutic massage in hospitalized patients receiving palliative care.
Additionally, in the hospital setting, the logistical challenges of providing massage therapy
include a number of setting-specific factors. A massage therapy session may be interrupted by
care being provided by other members of the team, by personal visitors, or by the activities
of his/her roommate in a semi-private room. Also, the availability of massage therapy may be
such that a patient's session time is limited because of the high demand on the short amount
of time a non-integrated, contracted massage therapist has to see multiple patients. Given
the remarkable negative impact on QOL experienced by patients hospitalized with a serious
progressive illness, a nationwide opioid crisis in the setting of public concern for
untreated pain, and patient demand for integrative therapies, we wish to investigate
non-traditional methods of supporting patients in pain and providing clinicians with viable
alternatives. Unfortunately, very little is known about optimal delivery of massage
interventions in the hospital setting, including dosing parameters such as time and
frequency.
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of different massage dosing strategies on
QOL, symptom management, and satisfaction in hospitalized patients already receiving PC
consultation.