PCORI-1310-06998 Trial of a Decision Support Intervention for Patients and Caregivers Offered Destination Therapy Heart Assist Device

Overview

The left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is growing rapidly among people dying from end-stage heart failure who are unable to get a heart transplant. These patients elect to live out the remainder of their lives dependent on a partial artificial heart-so-called destination therapy (DT). Although patients may live longer with a DT LVAD, it poses many risks, including stroke, serious infection, and bleeding. Most of these patients have other medical problems that are not fixed by the DT LVAD. Patients must be connected to electricity at all times. A caregiver is required, which often places stress on loved ones. Therefore, the decision whether or not to get a DT LVAD is often an extremely difficult one. Unfortunately, our research shows problems with the way this medical decision is currently being made in hospitals across the United States. Hospitals that offer DT LVAD treatment do not follow a standard process. The forms, pamphlets, websites, and videos used to help patients and families are biased and too difficult for most people to understand. Lastly, this is an emotional and even scary decision for most patients and their families, but the process does not help them deal with these feelings. Using feedback from patients, caregivers, clinicians, the study team made a paper and video decision aid to help people who are offered DT LVAD make this most difficult of decisions. Unlike the information that is now available, our decision aid focuses on options, fears, and the needs of caregivers, is balanced, and is paired with training for doctors and nurses on how to best talk about DT LVAD. The investigators now propose to test the effectiveness and implementation of this intervention. The investigators will apply the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) evaluative framework to a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized, controlled trial across 6 medical centers. Aim 1. Evaluate the Reach and Effectiveness of the DT LVAD shared decision support intervention to improve patient and caregiver experiences. Hypothesis 1a: The intervention will reach 90% of eligible patients. Hypothesis 1b: Post-implementation, patients and caregivers will have improved decision quality (greater knowledge and higher value-treatment concordance). Aim 2. Assess the Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of the DT LVAD shared decision support intervention across multiple providers and settings. Hypothesis 2: The intervention will be: adopted by key personnel; implemented consistently; and maintained after trial completion.

The investigators plan to test the effectiveness and implementation of a shared decision support intervention for DT LVAD. Six DT LVAD programs from across the U.S. will participate in a stepped-wedge randomized study design. In this design, each site participates in both the control and intervention phase with the timing of the transition randomly assigned. Sites all begin in the control phase, where usual care consists of the current education, decision making, and informed consent process. When sites reach their randomly assigned time to transition to the intervention, their coordinators and key staff will participate in communication training and decision coaching. The pamphlet and video decision aid will be formally integrated into the existing education, decision making, and informed consent process. In both pre- and post-phases, the investigators will enroll patients and caregivers and survey them prior to their DT LVAD decision (baseline) and then at 1 month and 6 months after to determine the interventions effect on decision quality and a host of secondary outcomes. These patient- and caregiver-centered outcomes will be compared within each hospital before and after implementation to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The investigators will also survey clinicians before, during, and after implementation of the shared decision support intervention. The implementation will be guided using the well-known RE-AIM evaluative framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance). Formal study of the implementation will promote widespread dissemination of this DT LVAD shared decision support.